Family's dismay at shock CCTV footage

BRAZEN . . . the thief calmly strolls into the garage and takes a wheelchair

THIS is the shocking moment a brazen thief broke into a garage and stole a disabled man's wheelchair.

The man was caught on CCTV pulling up outside the home on Newport Street, Werneth, shortly after those inside left.

The footage shows the man parking up outside in a white van, on Friday, June 10, just after 8am.

He walks straight up to the garage door and manages to get inside. The thief can then been seen pulling the wheelchair out of the garage with one hand and carrying a car battery in the other.

He then places both items in the back of his van, before driving away.

The wheelchair belongs to Mazhar Iqbal (50) who cannot walk due to a condition known as Ataxia that affects co-ordination, balance and speech. It was being kept in his sister's garage after he returned from Friday prayers at a local mosque.

Mazhar's brother Nadeem Khan shared the footage on social media to warn others ­- and in a bid to catch the thief.

He said: "I noticed the wheelchair was missing.

"I checked the video. It was 8am, just after my sister left for work. It is not a surprise really, it is an opportunist trying a garage left open.

"Some wheelchairs can be valuable to some people."

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "We were called at 3.55pm on June 10 to reports of a theft. An unknown offender has stolen a wheelchair from a garage then fled. It was on Newport Street. It is believed to have happened at 8.03am."

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101.