A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER told how she is trapped in her own home after thieves stole her specially adapted car from her disabled parking bay.

Jenny Wrenn, 83, was shocked to discover her red automatic Ford Fiesta had disappeared from outside her home in The Close, off Kingsley Lane, Thundersley.

The thieves even threw her blue disability badge out of the car before driving off. It was later posted through her letterbox by a neighbour.

Mrs Wrenn, who uses a walking stick on a daily basis and sometimes needs a wheelchair to travel longer distances, said she has been unable to get out and about since the theft.

She has been given an automatic courtesy car to drive temporarily, but said she struggled to use it because she suffers from severe arthritis in her spine, hips, knees and hands.

Mrs Wrenn, who is a retired cashier, said: “I got up at about 9am on Friday and I always look out of the window in the morning.

“I looked out and I instantly saw that my car had gone. I had left it in the disabled space the evening before.

“I thought that perhaps my husband had driven it around the block but when I mentioned that the car had gone, he didn’t know anything about it.

“We were just shocked.

“All I had left was my disabled badge, which had been thrown out of the car and somebody had picked it up. My neighbours had posted it through my door.”

Following the theft, Mrs Wrenn has been struggling to go food shopping and has had to rely on help from family and friends to make it to appointments.

She added: “My minister had to collect me to go to church on Sunday and other people had to drop me back off home.

“I am trapped here, we can’t get out because I haven’t been able to drive this new car.

“I am not going to let myself get distressed over it, I just want to warn others that this is happening.

“It’s normally such a safe place here.”

So far, no arrests have been made and enquiries are continuing to catch those responsible.

The car, which was taken between 8pm last Thursday and 9.30am on Friday, has not yet been recovered.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “Police received a call at around 9.30am on Friday, of reports of a car theft in Kingsley Lane, Thundersley.

“The victim, a woman aged in her Eighties, reported that her Ford Fiesta was stolen overnight from 8pm.”

Anyone with information can contact Rayleigh police station on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.