Man uses Google Earth to find his stolen car after seeing photo of it on Snapchat

A car owner managed to track down his prized £23,000 vehicle after it was stolen from his Birmingham home – using Google Earth.

Jayy Robinson, 23, was shocked to see thieves had broken into his house and taken the keys to his sporty Seat and a Volkswagen Golf.

The devastated petrol head posted about the brazen theft on social media after being left ‘unimpressed’ with the actions of police.

Jayy said: ‘I was due to go to work at 6am, went downstairs and both cars were gone, I was devastated.’

However, a blurry video of the stolen car was shared on Snapchat and seen by Jayy’s friend Jamie – but the thief demanded £2,000 to return the car.

But tech savvy Jamie helped Jayy do a reverse image search of the building the car was parked next to, and the pair managed to triangulate the location after spotting the name of a housing estate on a wheelie bin.

Using Google Earth to identify the exact street where the vehicle was parked, the pair quickly called the police, who were able to recover the Seat, just six miles away from Jayy’s house in Birmingham.

Jay said: ‘I didn’t know what to say when I saw it, I was amazed, I tried my keys and the car unlocked straight away so I knew it was mine.

‘I didn’t think they would be that stupid to leave the car in the same spot, I at least thought it would be in a different place.’

But Jay was less than impressed with West Midlands Police.

He said: ‘I called them on Saturday afternoon for an update but they told me it hadn’t even been allocated yet.

‘I then called them on Sunday and they said it was still pending allocation, I wouldn’t have got the Seat back if I hadn’t taken matters into my own hands.’

Jayy’s Volkswagen Golf, worth £16,000, has still yet to be found, and anyone with information has been asked to contact police.

West Midlands Police said: ‘We received a call just after 6.30am on Friday (27 Oct) that two vehicles had been stolen overnight from Poole House Road, Great Barr. One of the vehicles has been recovered.

‘Anyone with any information is asked to contact us via LiveChat on our website or call 101 quoting 20/936025/23.’

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