Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Bag theft couple strike again
A woman left feeling violated after her handbag was stolen from a restaurant fears the crime was one of a string of thefts across Canterbury.
Emma Milburn’s bag was taken as she ate with friends at a birth- day meal at Cafe Du Soleil in Pound Lane.
Cameras captured a couple going into the restaurant and stealing the shoulder bag and leaving without ordering any food or drinks.
Miss Milburn, 44, did not notice it was missing until they had finished their meal.
By then, the thieves had used her bank card to spend £150 on tobacco and cigarettes at the nearby Sainsbury’s store.
Miss Milburn, who lives in Dunkirk, near Faversham, said: “My friends thought I might have left my bag in the car but I knew I hadn’t.
“Luckily my phone and car keys were in my coat pocket so I cancelled my bank cards straight away and alerted the restaurant staff.
“The staff were shocked – they couldn’t believe it and said they had never had an incident like that happen in their restaurant.
“This couple has been preying on people. I felt violated.”
The theft follows one two months ago at the Bishop’s Finger pub, 200 yards away, when CCTV captured a man and woman stealing a handbag and leaving without buying anything.
Miss Milburn, who works in property finance, thinks the two incidents are linked.
“You can see the two people in the CCTV images from that night and the CCTV images that were released after the bag was stolen in the Bishop’s Finger – it’s the same people in both,” she said.
“They just look like a normal couple going out together, but in both scenarios it’s a similar situation.”
Police have now released a CCTV image of a man they would like to speak to.
Anyone with information should call police on 01843 222289, quoting reference ZY/4439/17.