Hampshire Constabulary

Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward after a wallet was stolen at the Co Op shop in Great Southsea Street, Southsea.

At 9.25pm on Tuesday, August 26, a man and woman, both 25 from Southsea, had gone to the shop. The woman borrowed the man’s wallet to go in and buy lime juice while the man waited outside.

As the woman got to the counter and opened the wallet to pay, a man stood alongside her grabbed the wallet and ran out of the shop.

The man who had been waiting outside chased the man who had taken the wallet for some distance, before the offender dropped the wallet. The man who owned the wallet then stopped to retrieve it from the floor.

£300 in cash had been taken from the wallet during the chase.

The man who took the wallet is described as:

• Black
• Between 25 and 30 years old
• Approximately 6ft tall
• Medium build
• Short black hair
• Wearing a denim jacket with black trousers and black trainers that had a white stripe on them

PC Craig Pearson, investigating the incident, said, “This appears to have been an opportunistic theft by the man who had been in the store, and we believe he may be local, as when he was running away he appeared to have good knowledge of the roads.

“The owner of the wallet is a student, who has now lost a substantial amount of money. I would ask that anyone who saw anything, or recognises the man in the CCTV image, should contact me as soon as possible.”