The owner of a Mercedes Benz was shocked to find it stripped down to a metal shell last week, after a gang of professional thieves dismantled it right in front of his house. When 56-year-old Paul Hampton of West Bromwich, UK, saw his neighbor standing in front of his house early Thursday morning, he knew something was wrong. Hampton had been out the night before and had parked his car — a $37,000 Mercedes C-class — outside his home at around 9:30 p.m. At 4:30 a.m., his neighbor began banging on Hampton’s door, shouting for him to come out and see his car……..or what was left of it. While the car had been taken apart piece-by-piece, no one saw or heard anything. The car had been propped up on bricks, with the wheels, hood, doors, trunk cover, and even the two front seats missing. Needless to say, Hampton was distraught to see his gutted car, the one he had worked 13-hour days seven days a week to be able to buy. Police were called and prints were taken from the dismantled vehicle. The incident is still under investigation, and Hampton himself put up a $1,300 reward for information leading to a prosecution.
