A Richhill family awoke this morning (Thursday) to find that their car had been stolen from their driveway as they slept.
The incident occurred in the Sleep Valley area with the jeep being a keyless Mercedes GLE 350 Designo Class 2016, number plate KR65 HRZ,
In a post Mellisa King wrote: “We are devastated our family car the black Mercedes jeep has been stolen from our driveway in Orchard Hill during the night. Can’t believe how people can do this and think it’s ok. Shame on you.”
Slamming those involved, Newry & Armagh DUP Assemblyman William Irwin MLA, who knows the owners of the vehicle, said he was concerned by the incident and in his view it has shown that criminals are scouting out housing developments in order to select specific vehicles.
He said: “This is a concerning incident especially for the owners of the vehicle, as Orchard Hill is off the main Sleepyvalley road area and it would not be immediately obvious as to what vehicles are parked in the area without someone first driving through the development.”
Mr Irwin added: “This in turn then suggests to me that these criminals have scouted the area in order to select this Mercedes jeep type vehicle and have used illegal methods to bypass the locking system and access and start the vehicle before driving off.
“If anyone who was in the Orchard Hill area or Sleepy Valley area of Richhill and witnessed anything suspicious I would urge them to get in contact with the PSNI and assist with their inquiries.”
Police confirmed they received a report of a stolen car in the Orchard Hill area of Richhill shortly before 6.25am this morning (Thursday, November 11).
Enquiries are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting reference 176 of 11/11/21.
Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/.
You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/
