Primary school teacher 'devastated' after car stripped bare by 'Corsa cannibals' in pub car park

Primary school teacher Bethan Maiden returned to her car after a night out to find the front bumper and bonnet had been ripped from the vehicle by thieves dubbed 'Corsa cannibals.' Credit: NCJ Media

A primary school teacher who saved up to buy her first car said she was devastated after it was stripped bare by "Corsa cannibals".

Mum-of-two Bethan Maiden had decided to leave her Vauxhall Corsa overnight in a pub car park after spending a night socialising there.

When she returned to Myton House Farm pub, in Ingleby Barwick the following day, on Sunday 26 March, she discovered her car had been targeted by thieves.

The 25-year-old found the front bumper and bonnet had been ripped from the car and the passenger window shattered, with glass all over her two young sons' seats.

Ms Maiden was shocked and shaken to discover damage caused to her vehicle after she left it parked in a pub car park overnight. Credit: NCJ Media

The theft has left the working mum and her children - Noah, 4 and Theo, 2 - struggling to make it to her job, school and nursery.

She said: "It's a nightmare. I've got two children. We've got to get them to school, my partner's got to get to work and I've got to get to work, it's like a taxi.

"It's just horrible, you feel like you work hard for something. It's a Corsa, I know, but it's my first ever car and you save all your pennies for that, and for someone to just strip it away like that. They have no concept of what it does to people's lives."

The window of the Vauxhall Corsa was also smashed. Credit: NCJ Media

Ms Maiden posted the damage done to her car on social media and she said: "Everyone is saying it's the Corsa cannibals again, so I get the impression that it's a crew that do it."

The so-called "Corsa Cannibals" shocked Teesside during a string of incidents around seven years ago when a number of Vauxhall Corsas were targeted by thugs. The group would strip parts from the car including their bumpers and bonnets.

A spokesperson for Cleveland Police said: "Police received a call on Sunday lunchtime from the owner of a black Vauxhall Corsa which had had its front end bodywork stolen while it had been parked up at an Ingleby Barwick pub car park."

Police confirmed enquiries are on-going and have asked anyone with information or footage from dashcams, doorbells or CCTV to come forward and call 101 quoting ref 056734.

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