A WOMAN has lost her dream job after thieves stole her car and set it on fire. Anneli Stockwell, 31, who lives in Little Thetford, left her Rover Metro in Ely s St Mary s Car Park on the evening of September 16 as she went for a night out in the Hereward

A WOMAN has lost her dream job after thieves stole her car and set it on fire.

Anneli Stockwell, 31, who lives in Little Thetford, left her Rover Metro in Ely's St Mary's Car Park on the evening of September 16 as she went for a night out in the Hereward pub in the city centre.

Miss Stockwell took a taxi home later that night, feeling safe in the knowledge that her vehicle was in a well-lit council par park that had a CCTV camera.

She was woken by a police constable the next morning and told that the car had been found, burned out, on Clayway in Ely.

Firefighters were called to tackle the blaze at 5.20am and it took them 15 minutes to get the fire under

control.

Miss Stockwell said: "I was heartbroken and I felt totally violated and shocked at the state of the car that, the day before, I had been driving around."

Her grief was compounded when she was sacked from her new job as a singer with a band because she couldn't make rehearsals that Sunday.

Miss Stockwell is now struggling to get any return from her insurance company and has had to borrow money from her partner and her

family.

She said: "This has caused me so much stress and in such a lovely city I think it's absolutely disgusting that these groups of kids are breaking into, joyriding and torching cars. They need to be stopped. There has apparently been a spate of this kind of thing and people in the area should be aware."

A Cambridgeshire police spokesman confirmed that there has been a recent increase in car crime in the area.

He said: "I would urge people to take all security precautions: park their cars in well-lit areas, ensure their vehicles are fitted with alarms, use a security lock on the steering wheel and obviously lock all doors."

n Anyone with information about this incident or any other incidents of car crime should contact Ely CID on 0845 4564564. An Adidas bag, that was in the boot of the Rover Metro, has been handed in anonymously at Ely Police Station, and anyone with information about this is also urged to get in touch.