An 84-year-old shopper lost her handbag containing the last photograph of her late husband when it fell off her mobility scooter - and was delighted when it was retrieved by a nearby Good Samaritan.

Jean Wells, of The Willows, in Orchard Park, had just visited Asda when she noticed her bag had gone as she went to go home. The pensioner had just been to the bank to get money out and then bought her paper at Asda, in Orchard Street, when she put her purse back in her handbag and put it on the hook on her scooter before setting off on Wednesday, October 11.

However, as she approached Orchard Park she noticed that her bag had gone and returned to the store in a panic. Mrs Wells talked to the woman on the cigarette counter, who was "very kind" and she has since found out was called Tracey, and she spoke to security who also came down to comfort her.

A woman who was in the queue at Asda even offered to give her the money she had lost in her handbag. By a stroke of luck a woman who Mrs Wells only knows as Shirley, who is a carer for one of the residents in the sheltered accommodation where she lives, found her handbag in the street, realised she recognised her and took it to the supermarket.

Jean Wells panicked when she lost her handbag in Burton

She handed it to security, who pointed out that she was still in the store and Mrs Wells was reunited with her precious bag, filled with her memories such as the last picture taken of her husband Maurice who died in 2003.

Mrs Wells, who has three sons, two granddaughters and two great-grandchildren, said: "I would like to say a public thank you to everyone who helped me.

"I was panicked when I realised it had gone as I have everything including the kitchen sink in that bag, it weighs a tonne. I had all of my money, bank cards and pictures of my husband and great-grandkids in there.

"It was completely my fault as I had not put it on the hook properly. I am doing it a different way now so that it does not happen again. I did get Shirley a bunch of flowers to say thank you."

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