Shropshire woman reunited with purse stolen in Birmingham 16 years ago

An events manager has said it is “nuts” to have been reunited with a purse that was stolen 16 years ago.

Beth Heath, from Shropshire Festivals, said it was taken along with her handbag, when she was setting up for the BBC Good Food Show at Birmingham’s NEC in 2010.

She had given it up as lost, but recently received a call from security manager Jacky Wilkins, who said it had been found behind roof tiles in the toilets.

“Obviously my little thief had taken my handbag, taken the cash and then lobbed the purse up in the ceiling,” Heath said.

She recalled the day of the theft “vividly” and said she was “furious” at losing her driving licence, bank cards and cash.

But she said: “You just write it off as a bad day at the office and you get on with your life.

“What I was not expecting was 16 years later was to get an Instagram message from the security manager at the NEC.”

At first she was concerned the message was a scam, but it turned out to be genuine.

Wilkins told her the purse was found whilst the NEC had been carrying out some building work and normally they only kept lost and found items for 12 days.

Heath said she was told they made an exception for this one and decided “because it was so bizarre they would get in touch with me”.

She described looking at the contents of the purse as “a bit like a time warp”.

Inside, there were cards with her maiden name on them, her students union card, her old driving licence and a Debenhams voucher, along with a number of receipts.

She plans to keep them for the memories and said it was “incredible customer service” from the NEC.