THIEVES could be targetting a shop because it has fake CCTV cameras, a furious purse-snatch victim has claimed.

Mum-of-two Julie Reeve was treating her two young boys to sweets from Poundworld in George Yard, Braintree, last week when she found her purse was gone as she went to pay.

The 32-year-old said: “I went back to Superdrug where I’d been previously and they checked their CCTV. They said I had put my purse in my bag.

“I went back to Poundworld and the manager took me away from the shop floor and said there was nothing they could do because the cameras are actually fake.

“I was fuming.”

Store manager Luke Bonner said the Poundworld security department is currently looking into the issue of CCTV cameras.

Police have linked the theft to six other similar crimes in the same week.

Anyone with information can contact Braintree Police station on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.