TWO elderly and vulnerable women are believed to have been targeted by heartless thieves who stole their purses as they shopped in a charity store in the centre of Devizes.

Staff at the British Heart Foundation shop in The Brittox were shocked after a woman aged 87 had her purse taken from the storage compartment of a three-wheeled walking aid and another woman of 77 also had her purse taken.

PC Teresa Herbert said: "These two women have been left very distressed by what happened. We are now doing our best to raise awareness of the need to be careful with purses, handbags and other valuables.

"It is possible that the women were followed into the shop and were chosen as they were easy targets. We are examining CCTV to see if we can spot anything to help establish this."

She said that there had been similar thefts from elderly people in Melksham charity shops in recent weeks and it was possible they were linked.

On Saturday police officers were out in Devizes giving away free purse clips and also put up posters warning shoppers to be vigilant.

Susan Francis, who has been manager at the shop for more than 20 years, said she and other staff had been upset by the thefts. She said: "It is not a nice thing to happen. In all my time here I can only think of one or two similar things happening."

Area manager Debbie Cheeseman said: "I was very sad to hear about this incident and, on behalf of everyone at the British Heart Foundation, I would like to offer our heartfelt sympathies to the victims. We are in contact with the police regarding their investigation and are assisting them however we can.

“I would like to reassure the local community that our Devizes shop has procedures and security in place to try and prevent crimes like these. In light of this incident, we have reiterated these procedures again to the team who are being very vigilant.”

Police say a well-dressed woman in her 30s was seen in the shop at the same time as the thefts and would like to hear from anyone who has any information about the thefts which happened between 2.40pm and 3.15pm last Wednesday.

PC Herbert said: "We are eager to hear from anyone witness to any suspicious activity in the vicinity of and at the British Heart Foundation shop during this time."

Anyone with information should ring 101.