Child missing for three hours after Audi taken in Newham was found abandoned without her inside

A family has spoken of their relief after a 17-month-old girl, who was in an Audi A5 when it was stolen in Newham, east London, was found by police on Sunday evening.

Maria Tudorica, a Romanian girl living in the area, went missing for about three hours when a man pretending to buy her uncle’s car on Gumtree stole the vehicle with her inside at 4.37pm, prompting an urgent search for the toddler.

The stolen coupe was later found abandoned near Hathaway Crescent in east London, but the child was not in the car. However, shortly after 8pm on Sunday, Scotland Yard said that she had been found safe and well. She was reportedly wandering in a street when she was discovered, not far from where she was taken.

The man who took the car is described as an Asian man of slim build, dressed in black clothing. Police are still searching for him.

Her uncle, Gheorghe Stelica, said he felt “born again” when she was found. He said: “I feel am a new guy. I feel over 1,000 times relief. [My brother], he’s happy. He thanks so much the police for their service.”

The 25-year-old said he was out of London at the time the prospective buyer called so he got his brother, Maria’s 35-year-old father, Claudia Stelica, to show him the car.

But, he said, the stranger drove off with Maria inside. “I put the car on sale today and one guy called me on my phone. He didn’t seem suspicious on the phone, he was talking very nicely. I said to him: ‘If you don’t want to wait for me, no problem.’

“He said he didn’t want to see the car in the dark in case there’s a scratch.”

He said his brother placed Maria on the seat as he demonstrated the engine. Then the man wanted to test it for himself.

“My brother left his girl on the seat and started the engine to show him the car. He said let me check the engine a bit … He jumped up in the driver’s side and – boom – straight away he went with the car.”

A statement from the Metropolitan police said the car was stolen at about 4.37pm on Sunday, when the girl’s father “met with an unknown man in Nine Acres Close, E12, with a view to selling [the] car. The man jumped into the car and drove away.”