A COUPLE visiting Clitheroe for Christmas shopping were the victims of heartless thieves after a handbag containing cash and jewellery worth more than £1,200 was stolen.

The pair, from Lancaster, were browsing the stalls at Clitheroe Auction Mart on Sunday at around 10 am when the woman realised her bag was missing.

It contained £670 in cash and a gent's gold necklace worth £640.

A spokesman for Clitheroe police said: "The couple were visiting the town to buy Christmas presents for their children.

"They had just been wandering from stall to stall when they realised the bag had gone."