Police refused to help a pensioner whose bag was snatched in a city supermarket - despite being promised CCTV footage of the incident.

A senior officer today apologised to disabled 65-year-old Faith Connelly for the "unacceptable" way she was treated.

Mrs Connelly, 65, had her bag stolen while shopping in Safeway in St James's Street, Brighton.

She only realised the theft had happened when she got to the tills to pay for her shopping.

The bag contained £200, her house keys, birth certificate, bus pass, bank book, disability allowance book and asthma pump.

Shop staff called the police, telling them CCTV footage was available.

Mrs Connelly was told officers were on their way but she was kept waiting for two hours.

Finally, police confirmed they would not attend and a switchboard operator asked Mrs Connelly: "What do you expect us to do?"

Mrs Connelly, of Maresfield Road, Brighton, said: "I couldn't believe the way I was treated. It was a terrible ordeal to go through.

"The video showed the woman ever so clearly. She took my bag just as I turned my head for a moment."

Store manager Claude Vassen said: "Mrs Connelly was upset the police wouldn't respond. We tried to do what we could to look after her."

Sonia Karpozis, assistant manager at Safeway, arranged for a locksmith to change locks at Mrs Connelly's home.

Mrs Connelly said: "Everyone at Safeway treated me really well. But I was still so scared that night, I couldn't sleep.

"When I got up in the morning I went outside hoping the thief might have put the bag out for me. I wasn't thinking straight."

She did not hear from the police again until 24 hours after the theft when Chief Insp Stuart Harrison phoned to apologise for the blunders.

Chief Insp Harrison, in charge of policing the city centre, has since made it his personal mission to track down the thief.

He said: "This was a very unfortunate incident which is not something I'm proud of.

"The comment from the call handling centre in Lewes was an unacceptable way to speak to a member of the public.

"I'll make sure we put in the necessary resources to catch this thief."

The theft happened yesterday morning, around the same time as a bomb scare at the Lloyds TSB offices in Gloucester Place, Brighton.

About 26 officers were sent there to search the offices and control the area. All other officers were dealing with separate incidents.