A woman had her purse stolen during a distraction theft in Dursley.

The woman was leaving a supermarket on Kingshill Road at around 2.30pm yesterday, April 10, when she was approached by a man.

She left her handbag on the passenger seat of her car and was distracted by the man who claimed his mother was ill and needed a list of the hospitals in Bristol.

The suspect appeared very upset and provided a notepad and pen for the victim to write the names of the hospitals.

Whilst she tried to help and wrote down the names of a couple of hospitals, another suspect is believed to have entered her vehicle and stole a purse from her handbag.

The handbag was unzipped, the purse removed and the handbag zipped up again making it look as though nothing had happened.

Later on, her debit card was used at another supermarket in Dursley where it was used to withdraw over £200 from an ATM using the pin code.

Police believe that another suspect watched as she entered the pin number in for her debit card at the first supermarket.

A Gloucestershire police spokesperson said: "Enquiries are ongoing to identify the offenders from this crime.

"Please be vigilant that there are rogues who will try to watch you enter your PIN at cashpoints and at pay points.

"Keep your handbag or wallet in sight at all times.

"If you see someone acting suspicious or that you think is observing you, tell someone what is happening or call the police to report it."