Costa Almeria handbag thief copped

A MIDDLE-AGED handbag thief targeting women in bars and restaurants in Almeria city has been copped.
Police said the 57-year old had pinched the bags from a seafront bar, two eateries in the Torrecardenas shopping centre and an establishment in the Cortijo Grande district. She honed in on bags slung over the back of chairs, or in one case placed in a child’s pram.
Taking advantage of the victims’ attention being elsewhere, she would discreetly take the bag, hide it under her jacket and walk out. In all she got her hands on more than €800 in cash, a mobile phone and other items of value.
Reports to the police about the incidents all described the suspected robber as a thin woman with brown hair worn in a bun, and always wearing sunglasses.
Police arrested the suspected robber five days after the first reported theft. Officers also recovered some of the stolen personal documents and belongings.
Identified as P.P.P., it turned out the 57-year old has a lengthy criminal record; she had been arrested on no less than 41 previous occasions