A PENSIONER hijacked by car thieves after her Good Samaritan friend stopped to help at the scene of a crash was subjected to a terrifying journey before being dumped in a country road.

A PENSIONER hijacked by car thieves after her Good Samaritan friend stopped to help at the scene of a crash was subjected to a terrifying journey before being dumped in a country road.

The bizarre incident unfolded yesterday after a crash between a Vauxhall Astra and a Peugeot 406 on the B1102 between Freckenham and Worlington, near Mildenhall.

The driver of a VW Polo, who has not been named, stopped at the roadside to help those involved - leaving her elderly female passenger in the car.

But two men then emerged from the Peugeot and, while the Polo driver was tending to others, jumped into her car and drove off with the horrified passenger still inside.

The pensioner, in her 70s, was dumped a little way along the road.

The men then drove towards West Row, where they abandoned the vehicle and asked the unsuspecting owners of a nearby nursery to give them a lift to neighbouring Beck Row - claiming they had been involved in a "terrible crash".

Last night, Pc Ian Hawker, who is leading the investigation, said: "This must have been a truly terrifying ordeal for the elderly woman and her friend.

"It is particularly distressing that she stopped to act as a Good Samaritan and ultimately became a victim of a crime herself."

The incident happened at about 10.50am yesterday.

Malcolm Brown, owner of the West Row Nursery, said they gave the men a lift to Beck Row as their story had seemed plausible.

He explained: "We saw two men appear from the fields with some cuts on their faces - they looked in a pretty bad way. They said they had been involved in the accident and had hit a tree.

"They seemed a bit upset, saying they had crashed their father's car. The men asked us to drive to them to Beck Row and it all sounded quite plausible."

But he added: "It is quite scary thinking about what might have happened.

"They seemed a bit shaken up, but the fact that they stole a car with a pensioner in it was news to me.

"My friend was a little suspicious and knew something was wrong. He wanted to get them out of the car as soon as possible but I suppose I just see the good in people."

Police were last night keen to hear from anyone with information about the incident to contact Mildenhall CID on 01284 774100.