A 21-YEAR-OLD man has been charged with theft following a handbag snatch on Teesside.

A woman was loading shopping into her car at Coulby Newham shops, near Middlesbrough, when a man grabbed her handbag and ran off. Passers-by caught the man, recovered the bag and called the police.

Her property returned, the woman drove off, without leaving her name and address.

Following Cleveland Police Press appeals she has come forward and a man has been charged and released on bail.

The force says the snatch on Thursday is being linked with a bag snatch outside the same shops two days earlier when £200 was taken as well as an Alzheimer sufferer's medication.