TRADERS around Ledbury and beyond are being warned to keep a lookout after a purse was stolen from a shop.

The theft happened on Tuesday afternoon, when a man entered Open Door Design in the town's High Street and apparently stole a purse from a staff member's bag which was behind the counter.

In a bulletin sent round members of the town's Shop Watch on Wednesday, he is described as: "a tall (6ft) white British male, with short hair either fair or ginger. He was wearing a scruffy suit with a white shirt and carrying a sort of laptop bag (shabby salesman sort of look)."

The Shop Watch Group has issued two images of the man, taken from one of the shops he visited.

He is though to have visited seven or eight shops in the town centre on the same afternoon.

The man uses several excuses to try to persuade to look in their stock rooms or back offices.

Among the excuses is that his mother had left her handbag, walking stick or a carrier bag of make-up in the shop previously, and he has come to collect it.

The Shop Watch Group has issued two images of the man, taken from one of the shops he visited.

The message says: "I believe he may also have been in Hartpury yesterday so we are assuming he has transport or may even have used the bus from Gloucester."