A woman in Reading said that she fears for her safety in the town centre after two thousand pounds was stolen out of her handbag. 

Margaret Hale, 66, from Twyford said that she rarely goes into the centre of Reading but occasionally feels the need to for the purpose of visiting the bank. 

On August 5 at around 1 pm this year, Ms Hale went into Reading to draw out some cash. "I went into Nationwide in Broad Street and asked them to get me out £2000," she said.

The staff then put the money in an envelope for her and Ms Hale put the wad of cash in her handbag and closed it. 

She then left the bank to sit on the benches outside the Waterstones bookshop. 

"When I got to the benches I saw a woman bent down with her head between her knees. I didn't sit close to her as I thought that was a little strange," Ms Hale said. 

She then spoke on the phone with a friend for a little while before going into a local supermarket. Once she was in there she felt the presence of someone very close to her. 

"I literally felt someone touch me and get very close to me," she continued. "They then walked away and I didn't think anything of it."

Ms Hale went on to say that upon returning home from Reading town centre she checked her handbag and the envelope containing the cash was no longer there. 

"I was panicking, I felt sick and really dizzy," she said. "I couldn't believe that all that money had just gone. It was awful for me really."

Ms Hale said that she thinks that someone in the bank must have seen her take out the money and then followed her into the shop. 

She did report the incident to the police but an arrest was never made. There seemed to be an issue with their not being security cameras on Broad Street which meant they couldn't gauge if someone had followed her. 

"I did not see the person who followed me and did not realise that anyone was following me. I was completely by myself as well so no one noticed anything," Ms Hale said. 

She continued to say that the reason for her withdrawing so much money was because she only goes into town very infrequently and just uses cash to purchase things.