A GREAT-grandmother who had just drawn her weekly pension had it stolen moments later by a pair of thieves Mary Parsons was shopping at Sainsbury's, in Royal Wootton Bassett, at noon on Monday when two women approached her in the aisle.

As one distracted the 83-year-old by talking to her, the other moved behind her and then they left the store.

As she went to pay Mary realised her purse, containing £147 in weekly pension and some cash to pay for a birthday present for her grandson, was missing.

“It was upsetting – I was a bit shocked and was trembling,” the widow said.

“I didn’t realise until I went to pay that my purse was gone but it was zipped up in my bag and I don't understand how they did it.

“I was just standing looking at the fabric softener and this girl came and stood right by me.

“She started talking to me about the softeners and I thought ‘what are you talking to me for, I never asked you’.

“Then another lady came and stood on the other side of me and they were talking to me too. I suppose I must have taken my eye off them but I don’t know how they managed it.

“I had only just been to the Post Office to take my pension out. That was my weekly income and I can just about manage with it.”

Mary had to abandon her shopping at the till but her friend’s daughters came to the rescue and paid for her items.

She said: “I went to get in my taxi and the two sisters came out with the bags. They said ‘don’t worry, it didn’t come to much’ and, well, I started to cry.

“I guess they picked on me because I'm old – maybe a younger person would be a bit more alert. It happened to my friend recently too.

“But it won’t stop me going out, I won’t let them do that to me.

“I came home and saw on the news a little girl had been shot. I thought ‘what am I worried about, it’s only money it can be replaced’.”

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said: “Officers have been tasked to look at CCTV within the shop and the investigation is ongoing.”

The two women are described as Asian in appearance and one was wearing a cream coat.

Anyone with any information should contact Wiltshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers, where information can be left anonymously, on 0800 555 111.