A MAN has been charged with the theft of a handbag in Worcester despite the victim never having come forward.

Stuart Watkins has been charged with theft after he was alleged to have snatched a handbag from an elderly woman in Worcester but, unusually, the prosecution has been able to proceed without officers ever having traced or interviewed the victim.

The woman never came forward despite a detectives in Worcester launching an urgent appeal in the hope she would get in touch.

The 28-year-old of Greenhill Road, Birmingham was arrested after the incident outside Cafe Bliss in Sansome Street, Worcester at around 2.50pm on Thursday, July 28.

We reported at the time how a man had snatched the bag and run off before he was tackled by a Good Samaritan and police arrived to make an arrest.

In the initial article DI Stu Murphy of West Mercia Police's Priority CID praised the man's actions as 'brave'.

DI Murphy had wanted urgently to speak to the alleged victim both to check on her welfare and for the purposes of gathering evidence but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) took the decision to proceed with a prosecution despite having no statement from the victim, what is known as 'a victimless prosecution'.

He said: "This goes to show we can and will proceed with prosecutions even though we have yet to speak to a victim.

"We thank the CPS for taking the decision to charge this man even though we haven't got a victim. It's quite unusual. We would still like to speak to the victim."

The woman's handbag was successfully returned to her at the scene and the suspect left bloodied by the encounter with a man who jumped out of a car and took him to the ground,

If the victim is able to come forward she can contact West Mercia Police on 101, quoting incident reference 0396s 280716.