Car thieves in Belfast halted a getaway to abandon a terrified three-year-old boy by the roadside, it emerged today.
Police said a frantic mother found her child sobbing after rushing out to discover the crime.
The ordeal began when three youths and a girl forced their way into a Mercedes car parked in south Belfast yesterday.
An 11-year-old boy and his young brother were in the vehicle as it sat in Derryvolgie Avenue.
As the thieves tried to drive off the frightened older boy got out and ran to alert his mother, who was in the nearby St Bride's school at the time.
She dashed out to find her vehicle had gone.
A police spokeswoman said: "After running along Derryvolgie Avenue in a state of shock, the woman found her three-year-old child standing crying in the middle of the road."
The stolen car, a navy blue Mercedes ML270, registration BHZ 2328, has yet to be recovered.
PA