POLICE are warning residents to remove all valuable items from inside their cars when leaving them unattended after a handbag was stolen during a break-in.

Emily Probert found a brick in the driver’s side footwell and the window of her yellow Peugeot 107 shattered following the smash-and-grab, with her car parked outside her dad’s house on Tolladine Road, Worcester.

A neighbour’s CCTV footage showed two men with their hoods up walking down the street in the direction of Ms Probert’s parked car around 6.30pm on Wednesday night.

Moments later, the video shows first one and then the other males running back the other way, with the second appearing to be holding something.

“Apart from my bag, there was nothing in there,” said Ms Probert, 24.

“I don’t usually leave my bag in the car, I got out of work late and just chucked it in and forgot about it. It was pitch black and on the floor.”

An activity co-ordinator, Ms Probert was visiting her dad after finishing work and parked on the roadside near the line of sight of her neighbour’s cameras.

She only recently moved into her own home and passed her driving test in June.

“I left my spare keys in the bag, and my payslip, so they know where I live and how much I earn. Now I’m worried about getting my house burgled,” she said.

The handbag – worth around £250 – was bought by her mum during a trip to America, and appears to be unavailable in this country, according to Ms Probert.

West Mercia Police received reports of the theft around 6.49pm on November 15, with a black DKNY handbag, which also contained a beige DKNY purse, said to have been stolen.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: “We would like to advise the local community to ensure that, where possible, you remove all valuable items from your vehicle before leaving it unattended.”

Anyone with any information on the incident should call 101, quoting 672s of November 15.