A man who was reported to have stolen an Amazon delivery van and the parcels inside the vehicle worth £2,500 has been charged after he was found in a garden shed.

Northumbria Police have charged a 57-year-old man after he was arrested under suspicion of stealing an Amazon van that was parked outside an address on Morton Street in Byker, Newcastle.

The Amazon driver was delivering a parcel to a nearby house at 1pm on Saturday (June 10) and found his van to be missing when he turned back around.

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The theft was immediately reported to the police, who found the van left open on Cleadon Street.

Following an investigation, officers located the suspect in a shed to the rear of a property who was trying on clothes that had allegedly been taken from the van.

Police then took the man into custody to be interviewed and was subsequently charged with allegedly taking a motor vehicle without consent, theft from a motor vehicle and driving without insurance.

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She said: “This case shows that as a Force we are ready to act whenever we receive concerning reports like this from the public.

“Our officers swiftly got to the scene when this report came in and that enabled us to track down the suspect and retrieve the items taken from the delivery van.

“We managed to get him into custody, interviewed and charged with a number of offences within 24 hours.” 

The man is due to appear at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court in July.