Maria's appeal for car as thieves use fishing rod to swipe her keys

The singer believes that thieves nabbed her keys by attaching a magnet to a fishing rod and putting the rod through her letterbox.

Maria's husband Kieran Kennedy told the Herald that the couple are not holding much hope that the vehicle will be returned.

"I don't know how they managed to do it. It was in the middle of the night outside my house on a Wednesday night and I woke up and my car was gone. What can you do? It's gone, that's it, I'll never see it again."

The theft took place on Wednesday night. The family discovered their car had been stolen from outside their home in Harold's Cross when they woke up on Thursday morning.

The gold Mercedes estate with a registration of 01 D 89126 contained some of the family's belongings, and she is now appealing to the public to find it.

The singer and her husband have now changed the locks to their front door.

The mum-of-four is currently working in London but she took to Twitter to attempt to find her prized car, saying that her family are desperate to have it returned in good condition.

"Car thieves Gold merc estate Old, boat-like... early this morning. Fishin rod or something with magnet in letterbox," she said on her Twitter page.

"We've changed locks! Don't leave keys ANYWHERE NEAR FRONT door."

"And then you remember the things IN the car..kids coats, guitar pedal.. Aaaahhhhh ... Please find it."

Later she joked: "There wasn't much petrol it won't be far away!

"Why would anyone steal our car? It's a big old boat of a yoke but gets us all around."

The actress and musician stars in the new €12m UTV production of Titanic: Blood And Steel in which she plays a down-to-earth lawyer's wife called Muriel Batley.

The Dubliner is renowned for taking on challenging period roles, having previously taken on the part of Queen Katherine of Aragon in the acclaimed Tudors series.

hnews@herald.ie