Run over by hi-tech car thief gang

Mum thrown from bonnet as she tries to stop robbers. Crooks use devices to steal key codes from outside homes. FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON LOOKS ON AS OWNER IS RUN OVER.

- KAITLIN EASTON AND JAMES DELANEY

TERRIFIED mum Josie Mackay was thrown off the bonnet of her car as thieves drove it away.

Josie, 30, was trying to stop robbers using a hi-tech device to unlock and start her Nissan Qashqai without the key, which was inside her house.

Her son, four, witnessed the terrifying ordeal, which was one of a series of similar raids in the area.

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Robbers use device to steal key code from outside house

A YOUNG mum was run over by a gang as they stole her car using a hi-tech device that gains entry to motors without a key.

Josie Mackay was rushed to hospital after clinging on to the bonnet of her Nissan Qashqai and being thrown to the ground as her four-year-old son looked on.

Her ordeal was one of two similar cases where thieves used an electronic box to remotely “steal" car key information in the Edinburgh area in recent days.

Josie told how she frantically tried to stop the thugs after spotting them in her car but was dragged about 10 metres down a single-track road on the bonnet.

The getaway driver then slammed on the brakes, sending Josie flying, leaving her with severe bruising, a broken thumb and deep cuts to her head and chest.

The hi-tech software used by the gang intercepts signals transmitted from car keys and uses this to open the car and start the engine remotely.

Speaking while recovering at home from her injuries, 30-year-old gymnastics co-ordinator Josie said: “As soon as I walked out the house, I clocked two guys inside the car, so I ran out and just started hitting the body and screaming. It must have given them a fright because the guy in the passenger side ran and jumped into a parked BMW but the man in the driver's seat managed to get the engine started.