Shropshire Star

Shock as man sees thug push his car into canal in Chirk

This is the scene just moments after Mike Bowen watched in horror as his car was pushed into the canal in Chirk before the perpetrator calmly got back into his own vehicle and drove off.

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Mr Bowen's red Citroen C1 was soon submerged following the mindless act at the canal, and now officers are looking to trace the man responsible.

Today Mr Bowen says he remains in disbelief as to why anyone would do it.

He said: "I still can't get my head around why this happened. My wife and I were walking our two dogs along the canal, as we do every evening but decided to cut it short because of how cold it was.

"On our way back to the car, we were able to see our car in the distance. I noticed there was a man standing nearby but didn't give it much thought while I was talking to my wife but as I looked back at my car it seemed to be at a strange angle and then I realised it was moving and this bloke was pushing it. I started shouting for him to stop and began running towards him still with the dogs on leads.

"It was weird – it just rolled straight in and started bobbing on the water."

"I just couldn't think, there I was running towards the incident, I had my phone in my hand but couldn't get it to work, there was nothing wrong with the phone but my brain was like mush, shouting at the top of my voice while he calmly trotted back to his car and roared off."

The incident happened at about 4.30pm on Thursday from the parking area by the bridge at Chirk Bank, before the man drove off towards the direction of the A5.

Mr Bowen, 61, said the car he was driving was a brown/gold colour.

After he had sped off, Mr Bowen also noticed the window on the passenger side had been smashed.

He added: "It just doesn't seem fair, insurance aren't paying the full cost of what my car is worth so I will have to fork out about £5,000, I don't deserve this and also what did he gain from doing this?

"It's completely mindless."

Mr Bowen also said he is looking to track down a couple who were walking two cocker spaniels at the time along the canal, who might have seen the perpetrator.

North Wales Police have confirmed they are now looking into the incident.

Michael McGivern, a spokesman for the force, said: "North Wales Police were called at 4.33pm on Thursday to reports that a Citroen C1 had been pushed into the canal at Pentre, Chirk. The vehicle was recovered at 8.30pm."

Anyone with information is asked to call 101, quoting reference V002128. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org

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