Pensioner June Thompson was left devastated after a thief snatched her purse as she loaded shopping into her car.

The 67-year-old grandmother immediately rushed home to ring her bank and ask them to put a stop on her card. She also rang the police to report the crime.

Within 15 minutes, though, £250 was taken out of her account from a bank in her home town of Gillingham.

The cash was reimbursed and she was told by the emergency helpline operator that she would receive a new card within three working days.

It was not until days later as she was checking emails that she was surprised to see her account was overdrawn.

Further inquiries revealed that six transactions had been carried out despite the “stop” call on the morning of Friday February 12. And to her horror the purse snatcher had wiped out thousands of pounds of her life savings in just two days.

Mrs Thompson, who has been a customer of NatWest since she was 15, was told they could not find a record of her call to cancel her debit card.

She was told an internal inquiry would be held to find out what happened and in the meantime sent her champagne and flowers to her home in Milton Road.

Eleven days later after the purse was stolen from handbag in the Aldi car park in Duncan Road the bank sent a message of apology and a full refund.

Mrs Thompson, a retired cleaning supervisor at Medway Maritime Hospital, said: “Let this be a warning to others. If you know you have money in your account, stick to your guns. and don’t be told otherwise.”

Mrs Thompson, mother of two, also praised her son Paul, 40 for turning detective in an attempt to track down the thieves.

Armed with her account details, he made inquiries of all the premises where the card had been used including a garage in Barking. Essex where £2,700 was spent on alloy wheels and two jewellers in London, where items totalling £5,000 were bought.

The thieves also had dealings the Cex second hand goods shop in Gillingham where they may have been caught on CCTV.

Mrs Thompson, who is registered disabled, said: “As far as I am concerned, I did everything I should have done. Yet I was made to feel more like the criminal than the victim. I have lost count of the number of calls I have made. I am relieved to have my money back, but the stress has been horrendous.”

A NatWest spokesperson: “We take our customers’ security very seriously and we encourage all of our customers to keep their card and PIN safe, as stated in our T&Cs.

"Should a customer identify their card has been lost or stolen, they need to report it to us immediately and if they have kept their details secure and been a victim of fraud, we will endeavour to refund them.”

A police spokesman confirmed they are investigating the reported theft of a woman’s purse while shopping at Aldi in Duncan Road, Gillingham, between 10am and 11am on February 12.

Enquiries are continuing and officers are analyising CCTV footage. Anyone with information is urged to call 101 quoting reference XY/5479/16.