A SINGLE mum has slammed the evil thieves who snatched her purse while her 11-month-old baby was having a fit in the street.

Shelley Bootham at first thought she was being helped by good Samaritans when her daughter Chloe was suffering what was thought to be an epileptic fit.

But when they ran off she realised the sick pair had heartlessly taken advantage of the situation to steal her purse.

The incident happened as Shelley was taking her daughter to a doctor's surgery in Farnworth yesterday after the baby had suffered a fit earlier that morning.

She was wheeling the pram along Longcauseway when Chloe began to suffer another fit and Shelley got her out of the pram and put her purse and bag inside. The pram began to veer into the road and the couple in their late 20s then approached Shelley asking if they could help. Shelley says she asked them to look after the pram while she tried to calm the baby. Following the incident, the couple ran down the main road and when Shelley got to the surgery she discovered her purse was missing.

Shelley, aged 21, said: "I searched everywhere because I could not believe the purse had gone."

The angry mother, who lives in the Farnworth area, reported the incident to the police who told her they could not treat it as a theft because she could not prove the purse had been stolen.

But Shelley believes the purse had been snatched. She said: "I'm sure it was them because they ran away. I just hope they feel very guilty. For all they knew Chloe could have been dying. It's just sick."

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