Great-great-gran who helped with war effort falls foul of bag thieves

A 94-year-old great-great -grandmother and former Second World War land girl had her savings stolen as she walked with her frame in a busy city centre.

Elizabeth Taylor, who worked as part of the Women’s Land Army and welded battleships in Dundee during the 1939-45 war, had just withdrawn £300 of savings from the Clydesdale Bank in Stirling when she was targeted less than 100 metres away.

She had placed her handbag in a shopping container on her threewheeled frame when she went in to a nearby Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland charity shop.

She then visited a branch of Edinburgh Woollen Mill where she noticed the bag was missing and staff there contacted police, who are investigating.

Elizabeth, who had a further £50 in her stolen purse, said: “I put the money from the bank in to the walking frame – which I use for assistance because I’m nearly 95 years old. When I looked for my bag in the Edinburgh Woollen Mill it was gone.

“Whoever it was saw me coming out of the bank. It was in broad daylight and the town was very busy. If I met them, I’d use one or two words I wouldn’t normally use but, as my mother always said, there are more honest people in the world than rogues.”

Police later recovered the bag from the charity shop, although the money was gone. The bag has been sent for forensic tests.

Mother of four Elizabeth was born in Edinburgh in 1923. She served in the Women’s Land Army for a year doing agricultural work before being transferred to Dundee.

Picture: Saltire News. Elizabeth Taylor had savings stolen.