AFTER spending three years and £10,000 lovingly restoring his Mini, Dexter West was devastated when thieves stole and set fire to it.

The 20-year-old woke up on Monday to a phone call from the police telling him the shell of his precious project had been found burned out in Blackbird Leys.

He bought the 1992 Mini Sprite for £400 when he was 17 and rebuilt it from the inside out, installing a new engine and seats and spraying the bodywork bright orange.

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He said: “That car meant a lot to me, I put so much time and money into it. It is insured, but I probably won’t get all of the money I spent on it back.

“A lot of people helped me out with it as well, so lots of people are sorry to see it go.

“It was the first car I ever restored by myself.”

Firefighters and police were called to the car when it was set ablaze in Jourdain Road at about 7am. The fire was out by 8am.

Mr West said: “The police told me they found it and I went down there to look at it.

“I pulled into the road and it was just sat there smouldering. It was completely destroyed.”

An engineer, he began working on cars as a hobby with his father Brenton – who worked on historic cars during the 1980s – when he was just five years old.

After finishing the Mini this summer, he had just 500 miles on the clock after driving it to car shows.

It was stolen from outside his Charlgrove home overnight on Sunday.

He said: “Before they set fire to it they stole tools out of the boot and the speakers that I’d installed inside.

“There’s not much that could be salvaged. I persuaded the police to let me take it home – I couldn’t let them crush it – but they’ve said that the burnt paint is toxic so I can’t keep it.”

Along with his girlfriend Jo Walker, an Oxford Brookes student, and family, Mr West has been sharing information about the car’s theft to try to catch the culprits. More than 3,000 people from across the country have shared his Facebook post.

Mr West said: “I hope whoever did this feels really guilty. It meant a lot to me. Jo used to get upset because I spent more time with that car than her.”

Police spokesoman Connie Primmer said: “We are investigating a theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle. The car was stolen at some point overnight between Sunday December 7 and Monday December 8 from Chalgrove.

“We are investigating, but there have been no arrests yet. Anyone with information should call 101.”

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