One-year-old girl taken during car theft in London

A 17-month-old girl who was inside a car when it was stolen has been found unharmed, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed.

A massive search was launched for Maria Tudorica after a man posing as a prospective buyer responding to an advert on website Gumtree stole her uncle’s Audi A5 while she was strapped into the front seat. The toddler was missing for about three hours following the theft in Newham, east London, at about 4.30pm on Sunday.

The London Evening Standard reports that the car was found abandoned but empty in a nearby street shortly after it was taken.

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According to Sky News, hundreds of people tweeted appeals using the hashtag #findmaria calling for help to locate the missing girl, whose family are from Romania. Search patrols of police and volunteers combed the area before Maria was found wandering in a street not far from where she was taken.

The Met tweeted: “Delighted to report that missing child Maria Tudorica, aged 17 months, has now been found safe and well in the Ruskin Avenue.”

Her uncle, Gheorghe Stelica, said he had felt “born again” when he learned his niece had been found, reports The Guardian. “I feel am a new guy. I feel over 1,000 times relief. [My brother], he’s happy. He thanks so much the police for their service,” Stelica said.

The 25-year-old said he was out of London at the time the prospective buyer called so he got his brother, Maria’s 35-year-old father, Claudia Stelica, to show him the car.

Stelica continued: “I put the car on sale today and one guy called me on my phone. He didn’t seem suspicious on the phone, he was talking very nicely.

“My brother left his girl on the seat and started the engine to show him the car. He said let me check the engine a bit... He jumped up in the driver’s side and – boom – straight away he went with the car.”

The man who took the car is described as an Asian man of slim build and wearing black clothing. Police are still searching for him.