GANGS of pickpockets are continuing to target the town's elderly people with 50 thefts reported in the last two months alone.

It comes after the Adver revealed in April that thieves were stealing more than one purse a day in the town centre - four and a half times the number stolen at the start of the year.

In January there were just seven purses pinched from mainly elderly women, but that number increased with each passing month, rising to 17 in February, 27 in March and 33 in April. And the upward trend in the crime has continued in recent months, forcing police to issue a warning for people to be on their guard.

Brian Northcote, operations coordinator of Swindon Crime Initiative Partnership (SCRIP), said: "These are major teams of pickpockets, some of them numbering up to 20. There are no more than about 50 groups in the country.

"They will split up into threes and fours. In large cities they turn up mob handed but not in Swindon because they would stand out so quickly.

"This is part of a national epidemic. We had eastern European groups targeting London - now they are moving out to the shires."

Police have released CCTV footage of two lightning quick thieves who were caught on camera stealing a purse from women waiting in a bank queue. Officers say they have circulated the images around the country and they are also wanted for offences in Kidderminster.

Mr Northcote said: "They might be here for a week or so, go away and then come back.

"We want to raise awareness and highlight the type of individuals who are being targeted.

"The police are collating the evidence of who is responsible for what and when they are picked up anywhere in the country the offences from Swindon will be put to them."

PC Ashleigh Jones, of the town centre policing team, said: "The pickpockets often hang around cash points, watch someone get money out and put the pin in, and then follow them into shops. The public should be wary when getting their money out.

"They target elderly ladies on their own or young mums with their handbags on the prams."

Police say the elusive crooks know what they are doing.

"They also seem to have an idea of which shops have CCTV and they target the black spots," PC Jones said.

"People, often elderly ladies, make it very easy for these offenders by not hiding their purses away in their handbags."