Police are hunting for two men and a woman after £1,000 in savings was snatched from a pensioner’s handbag at the Exchange shopping centre.
The 69-year-old victim withdrew £1,000 in savings from Lloyds Bank, on High Road, in Ilford, half an hour before getting into a lift at the Exchange Shopping Mall en route to the car park at 11.50am on Wednesday, July 26.
The three suspects entered the lift behind her, two men starting a discussion with the victim while pressing a different floor button while a woman removed the cash from her bag.
The victim did not realise the money had been stolen from her purse until she reached her daughter’s car in the car park.
The woman is described as white, aged in her 40s, with long dyed white hair.
She was wearing a black leather jacket over a black and white chequered top, bleached blue jeans with holes in the knees and black shoes.
One of the men is described an Eastern European, aged in his 30s, with short black hair.
He was wearing a green jacket, blue jeans and blue trainers with white laces.
The other man is described an Eastern European man, aged in his 40s, with receding short dark hair.
He was wearing a grey suit jacket over a black top, blue jeans and blue trainers with white soles. He also had black rimmed glasses on his head.
PC Carl Repper, from the East Area Command, said: “We are appealing for any information as to the identity of these three suspects. The victim has lost a large amount of her savings as a result of her ordeal.”
Anyone who can assist the investigation is asked to contact East Area Command via 101 or by Tweeting @MetCC.
To give information anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org
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