A 60 YEAR-OLD woman whose handbag was stolen during the Royal visit chased after the thief and recovered her handbag thanks to two good Samaritans.

Jillian Parsons had been out shopping for her 86-year-old mother and was keen to get home to look after her.

She was waiting at Chippenham bus station for a bus to Derriads Lane, less than half an hour before the Queen and Prince Philip arrived at the railway station on Friday.

"I'm not an anti-Royalist but I was cold and I was worried about my elderly mother who depends on me a lot. I just wanted to get home with my shopping," said Mrs Parsons.

"I was waiting for the bus and had my handbag by me, when out of the blue someone grabbed it and disappeared round the corner.

"I hotfooted it after them. I didn't really think about it, but they took my handbag, so off I went."

The men ran into the men's toilets behind the bus station and if hadn't been for the swift actions of two young men who saw what had happened, Mrs Parsons might never have seen her bag again.

"Two very public-spirited men came to my aid. They must have seen what happened and moments later they came out of the toilets with my handbag and everything intact," she said.

Within minutes, police had arrived on the scene and arrested a 17 year-old boy.

"There were police everywhere because it was obviously right near the place where the Queen was about to arrive.

"A passing police officer must have seen all the commotion."

She said she didn't know if she would give chase if the same thing happened to her again.

"It was a spur of the moment reaction but in retrospect it was maybe a bit silly," she said.

Mrs Parsons said it was refreshing to know that there were still some good-natured people in the world who were happy to help a stranger in need."

I'm most grateful to the young men. I did say thank at the time but I was in shock and didn't know who they were."

A man was charged with theft and appeared before magistrates in Chippenham on Saturday 15 December.