A SHOPPER is making a plea for items from her purse to be returned after it went missing yesterday.

Geraldine Mellor was in Matalan on the Ringway Industrial Estate off Bradford Road when her purse went missing around 4pm.

She believes it was stolen.

It has upset her because her purse contained a photograph of her brother who died 17 years ago, which she has carried every day since.

It also included a poem given to her by her mother before she died seven years ago.

Geraldine said: “I’ve phoned the store and they’ve tried to find it but can’t.

“There was a man standing near to me quite a bit which makes me think it was stolen.

“They can keep the money, there was about £30, but the photograph and poem mean a lot to me and I’d ask them hand them back in to the store.”