Sheffield man’s car stripped bare by Corsa ‘cannibals’ – two months after passing driving test

Corsa ‘cannibals’ have struck again in Sheffield with another motorist’s pride and joy stripped bare.
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Joe Barnes, aged 20, who only passed his test in December, bought a 15-plate turquoise Vauxhall Corsa as his first car only to have it written off by insurers less than two months later after thieves stripped it for parts.

Joe, an electrician, parked his car in Deepcar, overnight on Sunday into Monday and found that it had been targeted by thieves when he got up for work.

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He has been contacted by other Corsa drivers informing him of a similar thefts across Sheffield.

Corsa Cannibals have struck again in SheffieldCorsa Cannibals have struck again in Sheffield
Corsa Cannibals have struck again in Sheffield

Last year, after a spate of incidents, a petition was launched calling on South Yorkshire Police to launch a full investigation into the thefts and those responsible.

Latest victim, Joe, said: “At first I thought that maybe somebody had crashed into my car, but as I got closer I realised that it had been stripped.

“They smashed the passenger side window to get access to the lever to open the bonnet then they took that, the number plate, grill, bumper...everything they could.

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“I’ve been contacted by a lot of of people telling me how common this is. I am gutted because I was paying for the car on finance, but it has been written off now and I may not get back what I paid for it, meaning I will be paying for a car to be sat in a scrapyard.”

He added: “I would say to people to be careful but there really is nothing you can do to protect your car from this.”

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