NEWS: Seizure Seizures

By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
December 5, 2008

A GOOD Samaritan fell victim to a new scam after her bag was snatched while she tended to a man who pretended to have a fit.

Margaret Sinclair, 44, was enjoying a night out with friends at Whistle Binkies music bar on South Bridge when she saw the man collapse.

Several people rushed to help him and when the commotion settled down, Ms Sinclair turned to find her bag was missing.

Police officers later told her that they believed the bag snatch was the work of a pair of thieves working in tandem to distract revellers and then rob them.

Ms Sinclair said: "I normally keep my bag under my foot on the floor and I'm extremely protective of it.

"I was standing chatting with my friends when these two guys started walking towards the stage. They turned around to walk back again and then one of them collapsed into a table.

"The drinks went flying and there was a lot of broken glass everywhere. The man didn't look drunk. It was still quite early so everybody thought he'd had some kind of fit. A few of us went to help him and then his friend came round from behind me to pick him up. He must have got a hold of my bag when he was behind me, stuffed it in his jacket, and then the pair of them walked off."

Ms Sinclair, a caterer from Essendean Terrace, Clermiston, only noticed that the bag was missing when she saw her bus pass lying on the floor, which had previously been in the front pocket of the bag.

She added: "Talk about keeping your life in your handbag - I had everything in there.

"One of the bar staff took me downstairs to cancel all my cards, and my friends had a whip-round for me, so I could rescue some of my night.

"The police arrived and took a statement and said it looked like the work of a gang."

Whistle Binkies barman Stephen Cousins, who helped Ms Sinclair following the theft, said they had been told it looked like the work of an organised gang.

He said: "The police that arrived after the bag was snatched told us about this gang. It was the first we'd heard about it."

A police spokesman said an investigation into the bag snatch was under way.