Theft foiled by Facebook user

A car that was stolen in Shropshire was recovered after an eagle-eyed internet user read an appeal on Facebook - then realised she had seen it parked in Telford.Mum-of-two Rio Scott, from Worthen, near Shrewsbury, was clubbing in the town on Easter Sunday when her handbag and car keys were stolen - and then her car, which was in Raven Meadows car park.

The theft was reported to police, who carried out inquiries but failed to locate the Volkswagen Beetle.

Determined not to give up, the 23-year-old Shropshire beauty queen set up a special group on the social networking site Facebook, appealing for help to find her car and invited all the people she knew to join.

Then last night, a woman from Telford who was using Facebook came across the entry describing the stolen car.

This jogged her memory and she realised that she had spotted the car parked at the end of Stonebridge Close in Aqueduct.

Police were alerted and went to the scene where they confirmed it was the one they had been looking for.

Speaking to the Shropshire Star today, Rio said she was thrilled her car had been found.

“I had been out in Shrewsbury on Bank Holiday Sunday and my handbag was stolen from the dance floor in the nightclub Liquid,” she said. “We ran outside as soon as we realised but the car was gone.

“I was just absolutely devastated. It was a lovely car and I had a personal number plate. I’ve got two children and it had some of their stuff in it. I was upset about all the personal stuff that had gone.

“I set up a group on Facebook and just added my friends and put all the details on it. One of my friends who is a DJ added all his friends too.”

Rio said the car was finally tracked down through a friend of a friend.

Denise Wakefield, Telford police spokeswoman, said: “This is a very unusual way of recovering a stolen vehicle but we would like to thank the eagle-eyed member of the public for her assistance.

“The stolen vehicle has been recovered and the vehicle owner has been informed. It’s another example of the community helping police to detect crime.”

By Lizzie Yates