Owner's relief as social media appeal finds stolen car

The owner of a car stolen from outside his home in Londonderry has thanked "the good people of Derry" for helping track down his vehicle.

Christian Van Der Merwe appealed on social media for the return of the Volkswagen Arteon – bought only four weeks ago - after it was stolen in the early hours of Thursday.

The car was spotted on Derry's cityside later on Thursday by someone who saw the owner's appeal.

"Social media did its thing," Van Der Merwe said, adding the response was testament to the "sense of community there is in Derry".

He and his family were getting ready to go to work and school early on Thursday morning when they discovered the car had been taken.

"It was a real moment of shock, literally my 10-year-old said 'daddy, where is your car?'.

"My 10-year-old said the colour just drained from my face," Van Der Merwe said.

He had bought the car just four weeks ago and said he had rediscovered his joy of driving after being involved in a crash in late 2025.

"At first I thought the kids will feed off my energy so it was important to keep it together, to let them know it was very much okay, but in truth I was devastated," he said.

"You start wondering how they got the car, had they been in our home? – that's devastating to think when you have a young family," he said.

After reporting the theft to the police, he posted on social media, asking people to "share far and wide in the hope it is seen and found".

As he was beginning to fear never seeing the car again, he took a call late on Thursday to say the car had been found – thanks to someone who had seen the appeal and reported its whereabouts to police.

"There is a real sense of relief to know it's been found, and I cannot thank the young man who saw the post and then saw the car in the street where he lived.

"That is a real sense of community, people here were on the look out and wanted to help," Van Der Merwe said.

He is struggling to understand why the car was taken in the first place.

"Whoever did this doesn't care about the impact on people, there is a mindlessness to what they have done – they felt it was their right just to take something that wasn't theirs," he said.

He is now upping security at his home and said neighbours were considering doorbell cameras and CCTV.

"Our community feels violated by this," he said.

Police believe the theft and that of two other cars in the Waterside may be linked.

Vehicles were reported stolen in the Shepherd's Glen, Glenmore Park and Butler's Wharf areas of the city between 23:00 GMT on Wednesday and 08:30 on Thursday.

There were also reports of two further cars being ransacked, with an item taken from one of the vehicles.

In the first incident, which happened between 23:00 GMT on Wednesday and 08:30 on Thursday, the keys for the vehicle were taken in a burglary of the house, police said.

At around 02:30 on Thursday a red Vauxhall Crossland was reported stolen from outside a house in Shepherds Glen.

Police said that around 04:00 it was reported a black Volkswagen Golf was stolen from outside a house in Glenmore Park while a third vehicle, a silver-coloured Volkswagen Arteon, was taken in a burglary in Butler's Wharf.

Also overnight on Thursday, police said another vehicle was ransacked in the Shepherds Glen area, as was a vehicle at Butler's Wharf.

In that incident, police said an item was taken from the car.