A Kentish Town teenager has been jailed for two years after stealing a car with two children inside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_YSW3zrNcg

One of the children, a 12-year-old girl, managed to throw herself out of the stolen moving car, but the kidnapper drove off with her 11-month-old brother who he later dumped on a stranger’s doorstep.

The terrifying incident was captured on video and uploaded to Youtube

Martin Cawley, 19, from Kentish Town, was sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court on Tuesday after previously pleading guilty to kidnap, child abduction and aggravated vehicle taking and driving away.

The court heard how the 27-year-old mother parked her three-door Vauxhall Astra to go to some nearby shops in Kempe Road Enfield at around 12.45pm on Saturday July 2,

She and an adult relative got out of the vehicle leaving her 11-month-old son and 12-year-old daughter in the car.

When she later came back Cawley had jumped into her car and driven off at speed.

The elder girl immediately started screaming ‘No’, and was so terrified that she managed to scramble from the back of the car through the front seats and throw herself out of the car door.

Police said the girl miraculously escaped with just minor cuts and bruises and did not require hospital treatment.

However the boy remained strapped into his car seat inside the vehicle.

The panic-stricken mother immediately called police and begged passers-by to help her.

Meanwhile a member of the public gave the mother a lift to hunt for the car.

Police eventually tracked the car by tracing the mother’s mobile phone, which was inside the car.

But when they found the car it was empty and her baby son gone.

However a short time later, a member of the public called police to report that the baby boy had been left, unharmed, on their doorstep. Mother and son were then reunited and within days, detectives arrested Cawley.

Det Insp Chris Rixon, from Enfield CID, said: “Martin Cawley is an opportunist thief who showed a callous lack of regard for the welfare of the two small children in the car he stole. He put the lives of the little girl and baby boy in jeopardy, subjecting them to an awful ordeal.

“The fact that a girl so young threw herself out of the moving vehicle just shows how frightened she was. She is very fortunate as jumping out onto a busy road could have resulted in her sustaining significant injuries or even worse, had she been hit by an on coming car.

“I would like to take this opportunity to again praise the bravery of this family, as well as thanking the member of the public who found the little boy on their doorstep. They took such great care of him, and both the police and his mother were extremely grateful.

“This case shows how an opportunistic theft can develop into a very serious criminal incident, and with the nights drawing in, when this type of theft traditionally increases, it should serve as a warning to the public to be increasingly vigilant.”