Persistent Police Community Support Officer Daniel Cordwell single-handedly traced four stolen cars in less than two hours on a Bradford estate.

PCSO Cordwell, of the Tong and Wyke Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT), was on routine patrol in Holme Wood on Wednesday and was conducting checks following reports of stolen vehicles across West Yorkshire.

At noon he was in Levita Grove when he saw a Mitsubishi Shogun he did not recognise and appeared out of place. He checked and found it had been stolen from the Shipley area.

Twenty minutes later he checked on a Ford Ka and found it had been stolen from an address in Idle.

Shortly after 1pm, he was patrolling in Farway and checked on a Volvo estate, which was tagged as stolen from the Pudsey area.

Forty minutes after that he picked up a Vauxhall Corsa in Holmefield View, which had been stolen in Dewsbury.

The PCSO said: “The vehicles I came across had no sign of damage as they had all been taken in Hanoi-style burglaries, where thieves break into a property and take the car keys and your vehicle.

“Each of them will now be recovered for evidential purposes and we will be following any positive lines of inquiry. Where appropriate, the vehicles will be reunited with their owners.”

Sergeant Claire Archer, of the Tong and Wyke NPT, said: “PCSO Cordwell showed excellent awareness to locate these four stolen vehicles over such a short period of time.

“Every day, police community support officers and police constables are fully informed of any recent crime and are dedicated to tackling it.

“We do our very best to detect vehicle crimes when they do occur, but prevention is always better than cure.

“I would urge the public to take simple steps to avoid becoming a victim of this type of crime by securing their properties and keeping car keys safe.”