Five purse dippers have been arrested in two days in St Albans city centre thanks to Safer Neighbourhood Team officers working with CCTV operators at St Albans City and District Council.
Two female purse dippers were arrested on Thursday morning February 2 at The Works in St Peter’s Street after they were seen by plain-clothed neighbourhood officers on routine patrols stalking an elderly woman.
Vanya Todorova, aged 22, of NFA from London and Genoveva Zlatkova, aged 35, of West Green Road in Haringey, Tottenham in London have been arrested and subsequently charged on suspicion of attempted theft from a person. They are due before St Albans Magistrates next month.
On Wednesday, February 1, CCTV operators spotted a woman acting suspiciously in St Peters Street entering and leaving a store very quickly changing her appearance and followed her.
A woman aged in her 70s withdrew £1,000 in cash from Santander Bank at 11am yesterday which was stolen when she went into Superdrug 10 minutes later.
The woman acting suspiciously was traced by the CCTV operators to a vehicle parked in Russell Avenue which was placed on ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) and found at an address in Markyate.
Silvia Petkova, aged 23, of Ferndale Street, Burnley, Lancashire was charged with theft from persons and has pleaded guilty. She has been sentenced and ordered to pay £1,000 back to the victim in compensation as well as other costs. She has also received a community order and must attend rehabilitation.
Gina Stanchava, aged 30, of Clarendon Road in North London, was charged and has pleaded not guilty. She is due to appear in court on June 19.
A 25-year-old man from Lancashire has also been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to steal and is on bail until March 2with conditions not to enter Hertfordshire.
A substantial amount of money was recovered.
St Albans Neighbourhood Sergeant Alex Winning said: “We identified and arrested these women quickly thanks to the council’s CCTV operators. They followed a hunch and alerted us before a crime had even been reported on Wednesday! We hope to be able to return the victim’s cash to her shortly.”
Operation Keepsake is an ongoing operation to deal with the neighbourhood priority of purse dipping in the city centre. It involves plain-clothed and high-visibility officers working with shops and market stalls and CCTV operators across the city centre to deter and detect purse dippers.
- Always make sure you keep your bag zipped up with the zip facing you.
- Try not to withdraw large sums of cash and make sure you are aware of your surroundings.
- Keep an eye on elderly or vulnerable people.
For further crime prevention advice, visit Personal safety: how to stay safe | Hertfordshire Constabulary (herts.police.uk)
Sign up to www.owl.co.uk/herts or download the ‘OWL crime alerts’ app to keep up to date with police news including scams, thefts, burglaries and missing people.
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