Mother-of-two's car stolen with her children's Christmas gifts inside

A furious mother will need to tell her two children they won’t be getting presents this after her only car — with the gifts inside — was stolen by callous thieves.

Karina Jayne, 35, from Salisbury North in , parked her silver 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer on the street outside her house on November 24 when a trio with a tow-truck brazenly loaded the car up and drove away.

‘I felt physically sick when walked outside and saw the car was gone,’ Ms Jayne told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.

She hid her batch of newly bought Christmas gifts in the boot of the car to keep them away from her two children — aged 10 and six — who would search the house for them and spoil the surprise.

‘Immediately I went to my neighbour’s houses to see if they had seen or heard anything,’ she said.

One neighbour had CCTV setup outside their house which captured exactly how the thieves made off with the car.

The footage shows two people in a dark-coloured hatchback driving down her street only minutes after she had gotten out of her car before they circled back and parked behind her vehicle.

Moments later a third person arrives in a tow-truck and the three chat on the street.

The two people who arrived in the hatchback then walk away on foot down the street while the tow-truck driver loads up both cars and drives away.

Some people who viewed the footage after it was shared to an Adelaide Facebook page said they had heard of a scam in which tow-truck and car-wrecking businesses would scout streets for cars they hadn’t been asked to remove.

‘I won’t be able to afford to buy another car for a long time, and I won’t be able to replace that Lancer easily,’ Ms Jayne told The Adelaide Advertiser.

‘They could see I have children and didn’t hesitate.’

She has lived in the northern Adelaide suburb for more than a decade but says she is now questioning the area’s safety.

Figures show the combined Salisbury area is one of the most common places for car thieves to strike in the SA capital, with 35 people charged this year alone. 

The investigation into Ms Jayne’s stolen car remains ongoing and anyone who might have information, or who has seen the silver sedan registration XNY-113, is asked to contact police.