Do you know this youth? Police look for two youths or men on bikes in car theft mystery

CCTV footage shows the young men on cycles attempting to get into a car in Deacon Way, Banbury at around 1.10am on Sunday morning.

A few minutes later, the two returned to neighbouring address and made off in a Toyota hatchback, pictured. The car was reportedly seen in Bretch Hill about 20 minutes later and was found on Monday, badly damaged and crashed into a ditch near Mollington.

Owner Adam Ahmed said: “Two lads on bikes, one a yellow one, had a good look at my car. Half an hour later they came back and took it within two minutes.

“A neighbour’s car was also tried five minutes before mine, shown in the CCTV video, but they didn’t manage to get into it.

"It was my main car for work. I’ve been to see it in the Bicester recovery yard today and it’s a write off. But they’re asking £500 for insurance and a £300 recovery fee.

“It was recovered in a ditch in Mollington badly damaged – they’d run off. They’d obviously crashed it. There was no rear bumper, no door handles on passenger side and it was scraped all along.”

Thames Valley Police (TVP) confirmed the incident and have appealed for witnesses to call them on 101 quoting reference number 43240627099.

Social media sites in Banbury have had repeated reports of men checking cars for contents and breaking in to steal them. The two lads on bicycles have been mentioned several times, in one case apparently cycling very fast away from Avocet Road where they had been trying car doors on Thursday night.

A number of incidents has happened in Banbury and surrounding villages over recent weeks.

TVP urge motorists to read through their page of advice on preventing auto-crime – available on the website here.

They say key-less car fobs should be kept in a screened or signal-blocking pouch, such as a Faraday Bag as thieves only need to be within a few metres of your car key to capture the signal, even if it’s inside your home.