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Holiday plans ruined after woman mugged in underpass

A heartbroken mum has been left devastated and unable to go on a much needed holiday after a callous thief stole her handbag – leaving her without her passport.

The 45-year-old from Mansfield was due to fly out to her holiday home in Spain yesterday (27 July) with her husband and eight-year-old son – but their plans were scuppered when she was mugged on Monday afternoon.

A robber knocked her to the ground in an underpass in Mansfield town centre and made off with her handbag, which contained her passport and spending money.

As a result, the family holiday has had to be cancelled as she cannot travel without a valid passport. Instead she is having to apply for a renewal and go up in person to Glasgow to get this, but she has no idea how long this will take.

The mum, who wants to remain anonymous, said: “My eight-year-old son has missed out on two birthdays because of lockdown and we’d booked him a safari park visit for during the holiday to make up for it. We’ve had to cancel those plans now – it’s so upsetting.

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“Rather than be in Spain but now I’ve got a four-and-a-half hour drive up to Glasgow on Friday for a passport interview, as that’s the first available appointment in the UK.”

The mum was robbed of her handbag as she walked in an underpass in Quaker Way, Mansfield, at around 12.45pm on Monday.

She said: “I had gone into town to exchange my money and to buy a new dress for the holiday, plus a couple of other bits. I was in the underpass and just got out my phone to check the time when the man came and barged me over.

“He knocked me into a wall and I’ve got grazes to my arms and leg. I was really shaken afterwards but a couple of nice people came and helped me. They sat me in a bus station and got me a glass of water.”

As well as her passport and euros, the handbag contained £80 cash, bank cards, driving license, car keys and house keys.

The robber dumped the keys and driving license at the top of the stairs to the underpass and a passer-by returned the items to the victim.

However the passport and money were kept by the robber.

The suspect is described as 5’11, of a skinny build and having dark mousey brown hair. He was wearing a dark long sleeved top with a collar and dark grey tracksuit bottoms with black trainers.

Police are urging anyone with information that could help find the offender to come forward.

Detective Constable Greg Evans said: “This was a very distressing incident for the victim and it was made worse by the fact she was due to go on holiday this week.

“Sadly that won’t be happening as her passport was stolen along with her spending money. It is fair to say this has left the woman feeling quite devastated.

“We are determined to catch the person responsible and are appealing for the public’s help.

“If you know anyone who matches the above description or you have any information that could assist our investigation, please get in touch as soon as possible.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting reference number 374 of 26 July.

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