AN elderly widow has made an emotional appeal for the return of treasured photographs of her late husband which were stolen when her handbag was snatched.

Annie Nunn, 85, of North Road, Stourport, was in the town's Oxfam shop when she became a victim of the heartless thief.

She realised the handbag and its contents - which included more than £170 to pay her water rates, a gold bracelet and her mobile phone - had gone when she came to pay for an item she wanted to buy.

The incident, which happened last Thursday at about noon amid a spate of town centre snatches, is one in a series of recent handbag thefts in Wyre Forest that have led police to warn people to be vigilant when out shopping.

Mrs Nunn, who has asthma and is diabetic, pleaded for the return of the photographs of her husband, Ernest. She nursed him through a long illness before he died four years ago, aged 90. Mrs Nunn went to the charity shop after a visit earlier in the day to her optician and while her vision was still blurred. She asked another woman customer to tell her the size of the garment she was looking at.

As it was too big, Mrs Nunn put it back but then realised the other woman was gone. "She had just vanished," she said.

"I took my trolley to the counter to pay for the overall. My bag was gone."

She added: "I was in a daze; I couldn't believe it. I would really like the photos back."