Nicked!

On three days last week, purses were stolen from open handbags from elderly women as they walked and shopped in Shoreham High Street.

Hairdresser Danny Starling, of Mako Hair Design, was working when he believed he saw a woman putting her hand in an elderly woman's bag as she walked along the High Street and take something out and put it in hers.

He rushed out of the shop, tried to reassure the victim and grabbed the suspect's bag, searching it but finding nothing. She then drove off with her boyfriend.

Three days later, Danny saw the boyfriend discarding something in a bin and go into the Co-op. He put some gloves on and went through the bin, found a card and purse and called the police.

The couple had left the store when he went in and he asked the shop's assistant manager, Donna Atkin, to view her CCTV footage and he would point them out.

He asked Donna to check the till receipts to see if they had signed the name of the woman on the card he had retrieved and they had. A short while later, the loser of the card rang police to report it stolen. On Saturday, Danny was looking out of the window of his shop when he saw the suspects again. He saw the boyfriend presumably emptying a purse in a bin while the woman went to the Co-op, shortly joined by her boyfriend.

A woman was crying in the Co-op, saying her purse had been stolen. Donna recognised the two culprits and, as they left the shop, the police were called.

Danny was hanging around outside the shop and pointed the woman out to police, who arrested her, and then he chased the man for about half a mile, followed by police, who arrested him.

The couple, Sharon Riddell, 34, and Lee Taylor, 37, from Bournemouth, appeared before Worthing magistrates on Monday. Riddell faced two charges of deception and Taylor was charged with two counts of theft. They were both jailed for four months each.

Danny said afterwards: "I am really pleased with the result. I wish more people would take action against those they see acting suspiciously."

Adur chief inspector Sharon Rowe: "I am delighted to see that the public-spirited actions of these people have helped us arrest and convict these people. I will be recommending them to receive a Good Citizen's Award."