Elderly woman’s purse snatched as she shopped in Spalding

Police are investigating after a 92-year-old woman claims she was followed from the bank before having her purse snatched while shopping.

The elderly Holbeach woman, who does not wish to be named, has mobility issues and uses a walker for her weekly trips into Spalding with a neighbour.
On Tuesday last week she believes she was watched by a young man as she withdraw around £300 out at the counter in HSBC in Market Place.
Then, at about 2pm, when she was in The Card Factory in Hall Place, she was jostled by two young women and when she went to pay found her handbag was unzipped and her purse was gone.
Fortunately the money she had withdrawn was in an envelope at the bottom of her bag, but her purse still contained around £70.
Her daughter Liz Walmsley, manager at Spalding’s Age UK, said the incident had left her mum shaken and fearing for her personal safety and security.
She said: “I am so angry and just want other people to be aware that this sort of thing is happening in Spalding.
“My mum has only recently had to stop driving and is just coming to terms with the fact that now she has to come into town on the bus with her walker to have a little wander round and do her bits and pieces.
“What happened is despicable and I am so very, very cross.
“Mum is very philosophical about it, saying it could have been worse, at least they didn’t snatch her bag or knock her down and hurt her to get it, but to me that is not the point.
“She should be able to go out in a small market town like Spalding to buy a birthday card for her great-granddaughter without being the victim of theft.
“It is so sad, but it is a different world out there these days which older people don’t always realise. This has been so frightening for her and made her very aware of her security.”
A police spokesman said officers would be checking CCTV footage from the town centre and urged anyone with information to contact them on 101, quoting incident 306 of October 15.