Newcastle, still without a win in five games under the control of Kevin Keegan, simply disintegrated in the second half after Michael Owen had given them a fourth minute lead.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was in the directors' box and she must have felt that Villa had produced a perfect smash-and-grab raid to give them a comfortable and rewarding win.
It was Carew who led Villa's raiding party as Newcastle were hammered into submission without putting up any sort of resistance.
Villa, however, had to bounce back after Owen had pounced in the opening five minutes to notch his second goal in successive matches.
The goal appeared to put a lot of life into Newcastle as Villa - booed off by their fans at half-time - were never able to get to grips with the opposition in a frustrating 45 minutes.
But the whole picture changed dramatically in the first five minutes of the second half.
Villa, who seemingly missed the pace of Gabby Agbonlahor, took off Olof Mellberg and Stiliyan Petrov and sent on Craig Gardner and the sometimes under-rated Marlon Harewood.
The change was dramatic as Wilfred Bouma netted the equaliser with a 25-yard shot after 48 minutes for his first ever goal for Villa.
A couple of minutes later, Ashley Young's corner was dispatched past Shay Given by Carew who was booked for his celebrations.
Poor Given, who had earlier produced a brilliant save to thwart Carew's header, slumped off the pitch following this goal to be replaced by Steve Harper.
Harper distinguished himself with two saves in quick succession from Gardner.
For the second he pushed away for a corner from which Carew headed home in the 72nd minute.
By this time Newcastle were completely demoralised and in complete disarray with substitute Harewood staking a strong claim for a starting place in Villa's next match.
All the previous hard work put in by James Milner and Joey Barton was wasted in a match which only highlighted the kind of problems Keegan has inherited at Newcastle.
Villa, who had only taken two points from their previous three games, completed their runaway success when the frustrated Stephen Carr handled in the box.
There was only one player who was to take the penalty as Carew stepped up to blast his last minute spot-kick past Harper to become the first Villa man to score a hat-trick for two seasons.