Gold Coast man catches car thief while naked

David Rutherford was woken up by the sound of his car starting and ran out of bed to find a teenager had taken his keys. Photo / 7 News

An Australian man did not hesitate when he rushed out of his home completely naked to find a teenager attempting to steal his car.

Gold Coast resident David Rutherford was woken up by the sound of his car starting just after midnight on Wednesday and ran out of bed to find a teenager had taken his keys.

Without thinking to put clothes on, Rutherford caught the 15-year-old as he was reversing out of the gutter and jumped in front of the car.

"I heard the car start and I ran out and he hit the gutter here and then stalled it," he told 7 News.

David Rutherford was woken up by the sound of his car starting and ran out of bed to find a teenager had taken his keys. Photo / 7 News

"I didn't have time to put clothes on because I sleep naked."

Rutherford managed to wrestle the teen out of the car and used his jiu-jitsu skills to ensure he didn't get away.

Footage shows the teen sitting on the ground outside Rutherford's home as the older man searched his pockets.

"Please let me go, I'll do anything, I promise," the teen says in the CCTV footage.

Rutherford rummaged through the teen's pockets to find "heaps" of car keys and licences.

He gave the teenager a stern warning before letting him go. Photo / 7 News

Realising he was still naked, Rutherford took the boy inside his home to put pants on as he made his decision.

"Let me put pants on while I decide," he can be heard saying in the footage.

Rutherford let the teenager go after providing a stern lecture because he wanted to go back to sleep.

"I ended up letting him go, I don't know what people will think about that but I wanted to go back to sleep," he said.

"I think he learned a lesson … I was tired."