A woman who had £500 stolen from her in an Oxfordshire bank has advised other customers to be vigilant and praised the police officers that helped return the cash.

Police said Helen Reenan was putting the money into an account in Barclays Bank in Abingdon town centre on Monday, November 15, and left it briefly unattended. When she went to pick it, up she found it had been taken.

Officers attended the bank and viewed CCTV footage of the incident. With the help of the bank manager, they identified a suspect, carried out a local search and found the suspect outside the library, where she was arrested.

Helen, from Abingdon, said: “I don’t usually deal with large amounts of cash and I wasn’t in my normal bank, so I was out of my comfort zone.

“I had just been arranging the money, picked up my bag, but inexplicably left the money on the side for a moment and when I realised what I had done, it had gone.

“Luckily, the police and the bank staff were wonderful. The bank looked at the CCTV footage straight away and identified the person who took the cash and the police officers acted quickly.

“I made a simple mistake and I have been very lucky. I would just like to warn people to keep valuables on them at all times and be extra careful with cash, even when you are in a bank.”

PC Sarah Merritt said: “This is the time of year when people have a lot of shopping and may be carrying larger quantities of cash than they are used to.

“It is vital that you keep you wits about you when you are dealing with cash in public places. Helen was lucky and we managed to return her money to her, but the next person may not be so fortunate.”

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