Girl, 13, snatches judge's purse

A MAGISTRATE has had her purse stolen by a young girl as she ate her lunch in a restaurant in Paris.

The judge, who was based in the Hauts-de-Seine suburb of Nanterre, had been approached to sign a petition in a restaurant in the Rue de la Chaussée-d’Antin in Paris 9e.

While she was reading the petition the girl "dipped" her handbag and took the purse and fled.

The girl, a 13 year old from Romania, was caught by police nearby and taken to the commissariat.

Meanwhile, in the Tarn capital of Albi, Midi-Pyrénées, police have arrested three boys who are thought to be responsible for a spate of handbag snatches in the city. They were caught red-handed with the bag belonging to the victim, an 86-year-old woman.