An Ashford mum said she feels “sick to the stomach” after being targeted by thieves inside a Tesco store.

Terry Davies, from Park Farm, said the thugs made off with at least £250 after the theft which left her feeling violated.

After stealing her purse the thieves quickly made two cash withdrawals with her credit card.

The mum-of-one was shopping at the Park Farm Tesco Extra Store in Moatfield Meadow, Kingsnorth, on Monday at about 5.20pm when she noticed two men standing near her.

She said one of the men came up behind her and pushed into her but when she turned round to ask him what he was doing, he just walked off.

She said she then noticed the second man pick up a bottle of wine and quickly walk away.

Mrs Davies, an advertising executive for the KM Group, said she was a bit cross but hadn’t actually realised what had happened until she went to pay for her groceries.

She said: “I realised my purse wasn’t in my bag and just thought it must be in the car, so I ran outside to check, but it wasn’t there.

“At first I thought I might have left it at work but as I was walking back to the counter it dawned on me what had happened.

“I think he had been distracting me by pushing into me while the other man took my purse from my bag.

“I felt sick to my stomach and felt quite violated.”

Mrs Davies alerted store staff who took down her details and said they would check the CCTV.

She then set about cancelling her cards but only realised half- an-hour later that she had forgotten to block a credit card.

She said: “By the time I rang up to cancel my Barclays card they had already drawn out £200 and then another £50.

“I don’t know how they managed to get money out without my pin and I didn’t even know you could get cash out on a credit card. It’s quite frightening how professional and smooth the theft was.

“The worst thing is there was no cash in my purse, but I had pictures of my daughter Katie in there and little notes she had written me on Mother’s Day when she was five or six.

“Katie is 22 now and having a baby herself but those things are still very special and irreplaceable.”

Mrs Davies said she wanted to speak out to warn people who could fall victim to similar scams.

She said: “How many people has this happened to and they don’t even realise?

“I know I’m not going to get my purse back but I really want to warn people to be alert to this sort of thing.

“What if it was some little old lady in Tesco, who has her stuff nicked?

“It’s scary because you just would not expect it to happen in a shop, but it’s so smooth and slick you don’t notice it at all.

“The thought of someone going though my stuff felt horrible.”

A spokesman for Tesco said: “We were sorry to hear the report from Mrs Davies. We are reviewing the CCTV footage in store and will be assisting the police with their inquiries.”

A police spokesman said: “A woman reported a purse containing bank cards was taken and a quantity of cash was reported missing from her bank account shortly afterwards. Inquiries are ongoing.”Anyone with information should contact police on 01843 222289 quoting ZY/34531/16.