A SPATE of high value car thefts has seen “more than £200,000 worth of vehicles” stolen in just two weeks from a Hockley street, it has been claimed.

Furious residents fear Church Road, Hockley, is being targeted by a gang of car thieves after a series of reports of expensive cars being stolen.

According to Stu Barber, who runs the Hockley Crime Group, a BMW, a Mercedes, a Range Rover Evoque and a Ford Ranger have all been stolen in the last two weeks from around Hockley.

Rochford councillor, Danielle Belton, who lives in nearby Rayleigh was also hit by an attempted car theft at the start of the month when thieves “broke into her home and targeted her car keys”.

Church Road resident, Jacqueline Burns-Davis, 60, suffered a car theft on January 30, which saw her new Range Rover Evoque stolen by thieves.

Ms Burns-Davis said: “Our car was stolen in the middle of the night.

“The thieves were so quick that even our dog didn’t bark, it was found after two days a few miles away in Ashingdon because it was reported to the police by passers-by.

“We had shared its theft on Facebook and social media, I had quite a few messages from people telling me where it was parked.

“We don’t quite know if the thieves were leaving it there to see if it had a tracker on it or they just dumped it there.”

Ms Burns-Davis’ car has been taken for four weeks of forensic testing by police and repairs have needed to be made to the vehicle’s locks, which have prevented her family from using the car.

She added: “The go ahead for repairs was given by insurers, but being a Land Rover, we were told some of the parts required a three to four-month wait, meanwhile we can’t have the car back as it doesn’t lock, and I don’t think I would want it back yet as someone had been in our car.”

Speaking about the incident in Rayleigh, Ms Belton claimed police told her thieves “were after their Range Rover”.

Ms Belton said: “The keys were far enough away that the thieves couldn’t use their normal devices, so they broke in, they weren’t interested in anything else, it was unnerving.

“Police are taking our complaints seriously; I support any proposals to act and asked the council to investigate the CCTV at critical junctions and for a community meeting with police to see how we can raise awareness and to see how the council can support preventing this crime.”