Angry parents recognised a car thief as one of their son’s Facebook friends.

They spotted a teenage boy in their Range Rover in Flint Close, Portslade, at about 11.30pm on Friday.

They had left the car unlocked and found him inside when they went out to lock it.

They chased him off and he got away.

When the couple later looked at their son’s page on social networking website Facebook, they saw the thief’s face on his list of friends.

Police said they are investigating a theft from a car at the address.