A young woman pedalled through Oxford chasing a thief who snatched her bag.

She was riding along a cycle path beside the eastern bypass, near the Horspath industrial estate, when the cycle-riding mugger struck. It was one of a number of robberies in the area which police are linking.

He rode up beside her and snatched her bag from the basket of her bike.

She gave chase and shouted for help from bystanders at a bus stop in Horspath Road, but said they ignored her.

The 22-year-old, who asked not to be named, rode after the criminal for several minutes, and chased him along Horspath Road before losing sight of him in Normandy Crescent.

She said: "I had been cycling down there on a regular basis for several months. It was a shock. I won't be going that way any more."

The woman said her bag contained a distinctive silver key ring of sentimental value, which her boyfriend gave her to mark six months together. It shows her initials REA.

She was riding to work at Oxford Brookes University, in Headington, from her home in Littlemore. "I was just hoping he would drop my bag if I chased him," she said.

The incident happened at about 8.50am on August 12. She said the thief was white, in his late teens or early 20s, wearing a white baseball cap.

Det Sgt Rebecca Mears, of Oxford police's robbery team, said: "We're investigating the possibility this might be part of a series of bag snatches, in the area of the retail park at Cowley.

"We would praise the woman for riding after the man and shouting for help - but we urge members of the public to put their safety first."

There have been three similar incidents in which bags have been grabbed at the Oxford Retail Park. On August 12 a woman in her 40s was pushed off her bike and her bag taken by two robbers, at about 3.30pm. She was shocked but uninjured.

A cycling thief grabbed a 57-year-old's bag from her basket on August 9, and there was also a bag snatch at the same location on August 6.