Woman's handbag containing ashes of her partner and daughter stolen

A callous thief stole a woman's handbag which had the ashes of both her late partner and daughter inside it.

The unnamed victim, in her 70s, left the bag in a trolley while she was shopping in Captain Cook's Square, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire.

She visited Marie Curie, Poundland and the YMCA charity shop – where she thinks the theft happened.

The bag was pinched from the trolley between 1pm and 2pm on Saturday, police believe.

The woman kept the two small urns, one black and one silver, in the ‘typical’ black handbag.

Both urns read ‘I’ll hold you in my heart until I hold you in heaven’ on the front.

The bag also had £80 in cash, ID cards, an address book and a flip mobile phone inside it.

PC Shaun Murray said: ‘We’d like to be able to get the urns back to the woman involved, after all these are irreplaceable and of huge sentimental value.’

He asked anyone who may have witnessed the crime or come across the bag to get in touch.

Cleveland Police posted the appeal for help on social media and several people commented on how ‘awful’ the situation is.

Annie McGirr wrote ‘this is heartbreaking, poor lady – I hope the ashes are recovered intact’ while Rose Ann Ray added ‘hoping they are returned safely’.

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