POLICE have successfully stamped out a plague of pickpocketing with a simple strategy that would have foiled the Artful Dodger - handing out hundreds of tiny cat bells to shoppers for free.

The bells, linked to a split ring, are simply attached to purses so that the tinkling sound alerts owners to any attempt by pickpockets.

The campaign was launched in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, after a spate of thefts before and after Christmas, with opportunists preying on shoppers - particularly the elderly.

Community liaison officer Linda Carr said: "The response of the public has been absolutely fantastic.

"The bells served to draw people's attention to the fact that they were being targeted and also provided a quick, simple and very practical solution to the problem."

In the first wave of the operation, 1,000 bells - paid for by the local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership - were handed to shoppers by Ms Carr, police officers and community support officers.

Staff in charity shops, where some of the dozen thefts took place, also helped to distribute the bells, along with members of the Townswomen's Guild and Mothers' Union and Neigbourhood Watch co-ordinators.

Chester-le-Street Community Inspector Paul Anderson said: "There are two strands to our campaign, the first being crime prevention education.

"We have achieved this by putting up notices throughout the town and giving people general crime prevention advice, as well as handing out the cat bells.

"The second strand has been crime enforcement, but the cat bells have been so successful we haven't had any thefts of purses since we started handing them out."

Ms Carr added: "We have had no trouble giving away the first batch and now have received a further 1,000 from suppliers in Hertfordshire, and they will be given out in the immediate future.

"It has been such a pleasure giving them out, because you always get smiles from people who remark on what a simple but effective way of fighting crime it is."