£400 stolen from elderly victim’s pocket after man offers to carry his shopping bags before hugging him in Blackpool

The victim, a man in his 80s, was approached by a man outside the Tesco Express store in Whitegate Drive on the afternoon of April 29.

The man offered to carry the victim’s shopping bags before walking with him.

While on Reads Avenue, the man returned the shopping bags to the victim before hugging, taking £400 from his shirt pocket in the process.

On Tuesday (August 16), police released a CCTV image of a man they wanted to talk to in connection with the theft.

“We have carried out a number of enquiries, and we now need to speak to the man in the CCTV still as we believe that he can help us with our enquiries,” a spokesman for Lancashire Police said.

If you know who he is, call police on 101, quoting log number 0700 of April 29.