Sam Mc Alister was distracted whilst getting a coffee in Starbucks. She then discovered that her bag had been taken off the back of her pushchair. The 34 year old ran out of the cafe and challenged the woman that had accompanied the man who had pushed in front of her, thus taking her attention away from her bag. After a struggle, she managed to recover her bag which contained her purse, house keys and other essentials.

Ms McAlister went with a PCSO to the police station to report the crime. The shock that she already felt was multiplied when the desk officer told her that no crime had been committed since she got the bag back!

Fortunately Ms McAlister is a former criminal barrister and explained the law, which doesn’t actually require several years at University and being called to the Bar to appreciate, i.e. if someone deliberately takes your bag away from you in a cafe, Starbucks or not, a crime has quite definitely been committed. An hour later, the officer made the concession that it was attempted theft.

I can only imagine that the ever-increasing bureaucracy that the police face, drove the officer to make this clearly erroneous decision. Either that or she is a close relative of Jacqui Smith, the new Home Secretary.