Phillis Hunt from Stowmarket had over £600 stolen from her bag whilst out at her local car boot sale.

A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER has been left heartbroken after her purse, containing more than £600 in cash, was stolen from her handbag.

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Phyllis Hunt, 81, from Stowmarket, was hunting for bargains at a car boot sale in Needham Market last week when the cold-hearted pickpocket struck.

Mrs Hunt, who has 16 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren, said she was devastated by the theft of the money, which she had been saving to spend over the coming months on Christmas presents for her large family.

She had just returned from a rain-hit holiday so had left-over spending money as well as two weeks’ pension money in her purse when it was pinched by a “rat”.

She said: “I had some money in my purse that I hadn’t spent on my holiday and my two weeks’ pension (£515) and I lost it all. I’m so heartbroken over it, I can’t get over it.

“I always go there and meet friends and have a chat and a cup of tea by the burger van. To know that somebody has done it to me, that’s the worst thing.”

She said she would now have to save all autumn just to be able to buy presents for her family at Christmas.

Mrs Hunt said she had rang the police after the theft and been given a crime number, and accepted that there was not much they could do, but that she would have liked to have received a visit from officers.

She added: “They couldn’t do much but it would make me feel better if they came and spoke to me.

“Hopefully someone will do it to them [the thief] when they are my age and then they will know how it feels.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel as I do at the moment. It’s terrible. I hope they look at the photo on my bus pass and the faces of my grandchildren on the photos in there too and it will prick their conscience – but I don’t think it will.”

Mrs Hunt, who has lived in Stowmarket for nearly 60 years, also lost her pension card and bus pass, which were in her purse, and will have to apply for new ones.

She asked for anyone who finds the cards or the purse to contact the police’s non emergency number 01473 613500.