A Chigwell resident is warning his neighbours after steering wheels and sat navs were stolen from his BMWs, using technology to exploit the keyless entry system.

The thief climbed over the gates of Anand Sharma’s house, in Manor Road, shortly after 12.30am on March 14, and used software on a laptop to unlock the doors of the vehicles.

CCTV footage, exclusively obtained by the Recorder, shows the man walk up and easily open the unlocked doors.

He then spends about half an hour pulling out a sat nav and steering wheel from the X5 and the sat nav from the X6.

This left Mr Sharma with £27,000 worth of damage.

He now wants to warn his neighbours, as he believes the cars were accessed using software to hack the keyless technology.

“All of that effort just to sell £200 of kit on eBay,” he said.

“What’s next? They will break into my home.”

On March 6 a gang from across east London were convicted of a string of car thefts, worth almost £3million, in which they exploited vehicles’ keyless entry systems.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “Anyone with any information is asked to contact Essex Police on 101 quoting the crime reference number 42/41350/17 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”