Baby taken in stolen van

The woman had been delivering newspapers

A mother has told how she tried to stop a thief driving off in her newspaper delivery van, with her baby son in the passenger seat.

Caroline Presbury, 34, had parked the van outside a newsagents, leaving her nine-month-old son Aiden inside, while delivering copies of a local newspaper in Long Eaton, Derbyshire.

As she entered the shop about 1655 GMT on Wednesday, a thief jumped into the van and drove off at high speed.

After a 15-minute chase, the van was found abandoned with Aiden safe inside.

When I saw the van go out of view, I couldn't believe it

Caroline Presbury

Miss Presbury, who lives in Long Eaton, said she had left Aiden outside the shop, in College Street, for only a matter of seconds.

"I was on call to deliver a few extra papers and nipped up to the shop with an extra 10 copies.

"As I came out I could see a man in my van, I couldn't believe it, so I ran in front and put my hands on the bonnet.

"I was screaming, 'Stop, my baby,' but the lad just reversed to get away from me."

The thief crashed into a bollard and narrowly avoided busy traffic as he reversed on to a roundabout.

"I was just panic-stricken and hysterical, a few cars stopped and I got in one of them and we tried to give chase.

Helicopter scrambled

"When I saw the van go out of view - I couldn't believe it."

Police scrambled a helicopter and tracked the van, which bore the Nottingham Evening Post logo.

It was found abandoned two-and-a-half miles away in Sandiacre.

Aiden was discovered unharmed in the vehicle and driven back to Long Eaton to be reunited with his mother, 15 minutes after the van was taken.

Police officers described the thief as white, of medium build, in his thirties, with dark facial stubble.

He was wearing a dark coloured baseball cap.