AN IRISHMAN who was bringing his newborn daughter home from Britain to meet his parents is appealing to the public after his car was stolen.
Keith Doyle, from Ballyfermot, lives in Bedfordshire with his fiancée Chelsea Canavan and their four-month-old daughter Layla.
Having proposed just three weeks ago, Mr Doyle decided to bring his new fiancée and his daughter to Ireland to meet his family and they arrived in Dublin last Thursday.
But things took a turn for the worst the next day when his white Audi was stolen from their hotel in Lucan.
“Here is my beautiful family arriving into Dublin port Thursday night,” Mr Doyle wrote in his appeal on Facebook.
“What was meant to be happy times very quickly turned into a nightmare and still is.”
The young family’s passports and luggage were still inside the car when it was stolen – leaving them in limbo.
But Mr Doyle is determined to trace his stolen car down and has offered a €1,000 reward to anyone in Ireland who can lead him to the vehicle.
“I’ve been searching high and low with no sleep or rest,” he said.
“I rang the tolls and the car was picked up at the M50 heading northbound in the direction towards the airport.
“At 15.13 it crossed the toll. I was up at the hotel at 14.55, it’s hard to believe I was in the hotel for 15 minutes.”
Mr Doyle is confident that the car is still in the Dublin radius, as there is no record of it crossing the toll heading into Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Aside from the passports and the couple’s luggage, most of Layla’s belongings were also in the car – including one very special gift.
“Our daughters comfort blankie that her nanny bought her at birth is in that car, she absolutely loved it,” he added.
And as the family prepares to leave Ireland for Britain today, Mr Doyle says he is willing to up the reward at €1,500 in a last-ditch attempt to get their stolen car back.
Mr Doyle's Audi, which was stolen in Lucan last week.