Men tried to steal young mum's handbag on way to work - police criticised for response time

Concerns have also been raised about the response of the police to the incident.

Billie Whitehead, 24, was walking along a path towards The Sitwell Arms Hotel in Renishaw at about 11.15pm on the night of Wednesday, August 2 when two men tried to steal her bag.

“I was in shock and upset because you never know what they are going to do,” she said.

The men fled with nothing after they failed to get Billie’s bag as it was wrapped around her shoulder.

The owner of The Sitwell Arms Hotel, John Selby, said he expected a better response from the police.

He said: “We rang the police and the big annoyance for me was that it took them 25 to 30 minutes to come out and when they did they did not seem interested.”

Billie described the men as being white and aged 18 to 20 and wearing baseball hats with their hoods up.

A spokesman for Derbyshire Constabulary said a call handler took the details and deemed the victim to be safe.

Two officers were dispatched from Clay Cross at 11.30pm and arrived 20 minutes later.

The spokesman added: “Due to the fact that the offenders had fled, we were unable to track them down at that time but would appeal to any witnesses or anyone with information to get in touch. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable.” Call police on 101, quoting 17000330403.