YOB-CAM

The People newspaper parked a car in Britain's ASBO capital. The result was captured on the newspaper's Yobcam - a roving camera that shames the teenage thugs who blight our towns and cities. Within minutes of an old BMW being parked it was surrounded by tearaways looking to plunder it of anything worth stealing. And within 60 minutes one yobbo had not only broken into the BMW to take valuables, he'd hot-wired the car and sped off with the vehicle itself.

We filmed as a youth in a black tracksuit and designer trainers cycled past the BMW on his bike 47 minutes after we'd parked it and strained to see items including alcohol, mobile phone, CDs and laptop computer bag left behind the front seats. He pedalled away but almost immediately returned, this time on foot and with a scarf hiding his face. Despite a pedestrian walking towards him, the youth brazenly forced down the BMW's window, unlocked the passenger door and clambered in.

As the youth grabbed up the valuables, the pedestrian glanced at him but said nothing. The yob continued stuffing the stolen goods under his jacket before getting out of the vehicle, closing the door, and slipping into an alleyway. By now the BMW had been parked for 53 minutes but six minutes later, after stashing his haul in a hiding place, the yob was back again, and he jumped into the passenger seat, slid under the dashboard and expertly hot-wired the engine into starting up.

A minute more and he accelerated away with a screech of tyres, startling a passing schoolboy and close to lollipop ladies helping pupils cross the road. Gone in 60 minutes. But this shocking scene played out on the Manchester estate of Gorton came as no surprise to residents there. The folk of Gorton are all too familiar with neighbourhood crime. One mum said, "The car was nicked in an hour? You were lucky it lasted that long. You can never leave anything in your car round here or guaranteed it'll be taken. It might take an hour, five hours, a couple of days, but it will go."

Another resident said he longed to escape the grey desolate streets of Gorton, where gangs of feral youths bring trouble by day and frightening menace at night. "We just keep our heads down," he said. "There are break-ins and car thefts here every day. At night gangs of hoodies come out and it really doesn't feel safe at all." The police show a weary response to car crime. But this is hardly surprising when in one month alone the Great Manchester force received 4,500 reports of vehicle-related offences.

When we reported the BMW stolen, the support officer who took our call said, "You do know the chances of getting your car back in one piece are pretty much nil don't you? If you do get it back it'll be a write-off." She said it was most likely it would be stripped for parts and then found burned out. We have yet hear back about the car's fate and the thief remains at large, though the chances are he's a known law-breaker. Manchester has earned the title of Britain's ASBO capital by issuing the highest number of anti-social behaviour orders in the entire country. (Source: The People)