'˜Lucky escape' as stolen car smashes into Belfast house

The stolen Range Rover collided with a parked car before smashing into the front of the house in Cavendish Street in west Belfast at around 5am.

Local SDLP councillor Tim Attwood has spoken with the woman who lives in the house and said she was “very upset and traumatised”.

He said: “Cavendish Street is very narrow – if you’re going at 20 miles per hour you’re doing a lot of speed. Thankfully this happened at 5am so no one was about.”

In the house that was damaged, a mother and her teenage daughter were asleep.

Mr Attwood said: “There’s a chair they have that sits in front of the window so if had been 5pm rather than 5am God only knows what could have happened.

“I know it’s a big ‘what if’ but you can see how it would play on your mind if it was your house. They were very lucky indeed.”

He added: “Initially she thought something had been blown by the high winds and crashed outside. Then she heard an alarm going off and when she got to the front of the house music was blaring from the car from the radio or a CD.

“Whoever had been in the car were gone. Neighbours were shouting at her to get out of the house in case it went on fire.”

Police believe the grey Land Rover Vogue which struck the house had been stolen along with another vehicle – a silver Toyota C-HR – in a creeper-style burglary from a house in Carney Hill in Holywood after 2am.

Mr Attwood said: “This is the madness of death driving. They went to Holywood to find a supercar, drove wrecklessly around west Belfast before inevitably losing control. It’s sheer luck no one was injured.

“Hopefully police get the evidence to take these people off our streets.”

Police are investigating reports that four males who had been inside the Range Rover fled Cavendish Street on foot.