Car crime: Watch the moment suspected Barnsley car thieves fled in terror of barking chihuahua dog

Would-be South Yorkshire car thieves turned their tails and fled - after being scared off by a tiny chihuahua.

The incident is captured on CCTV which show three men pull up to a residential street. They have been described as being seen trying to open a parked car's doors at 2am.

But the small dog sends them running away scare - by yapping.

In the video, two-year-old rescue dog Milo is heard barking and the three men are seen running back to their vehicle and driving away.

According to Milo's owner Anna Moomin, 32, this isn't the first time her car was broken into. She said: "This is the fourth time I’ve had men trying to break into my car. "[Milo] did a much better job than the police."

Anna, a content creator, thought the group were drunk on their way home from a night out - but the following day she realised items had been stolen.

Anna said: "I went to my car in the morning and the contents of my car had been turfed out and spare house keys stolen. I know I shouldn’t have put them in there but due to my disabilities, I can forget/misplace things.

"The time before that was last month when a man in a grey hoodie smashed my passenger window to get to cigarettes. The time before that was probably three months ago when two men were trying to siphon petrol out of my car."

Anna, from Barnsley, described Milo as "the best dog ever." She said: "He can be very vocal when he hears noises but he’s so caring and loving and likes cuddling with people and dogs he knows.

"He can tell when someone’s upset and when I have meltdowns - I’m autistic - he comes straight up and puts his paw on me."

The footage was captured on August 22.

Figures published in April showed that In Sheffield, a total of 5,210 vehicle crimes, including theft of cars and theft from cars, were recorded during the year ending in November 2022. That’s a rate of 8.8 such offences per 1,000 population, which is above the England wide average of 6.0 vehicle crimes per 1,000 people.