A rusting relic of the Harry Potter films has vanished from under a tarpaulin at a locked store of film props, in a theft which has got the local police force muttering about wizardry.
Detectives suspect a cherry picker may have been craned over fencing to hoist out the turquoise 1962 Ford Anglia, which featured in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when it took to the air after JK Rowling's characters pressed a silver button on its dashboard.
"Either that, or we're wondering if it managed to fly again," said PC Terry Hodgson of Devon and Cornwall police, who have established that the car was otherwise immobile.
Its ignition keys went missing this summer after it was bought from a Cumbrian car museum for £1,300 and transferred to a theme park in Cornwall. The engine failed shortly afterwards and the new owners went bankrupt. "We were about to sell it," said Ian Walker of the failed South West Film studios at St Agnes, Cornwall,.
Police said that without a respray, which would drastically cut its value, it would be hard to hide the vehicle.