Coventry police have warned people to be on the lookout for a "Fagin’s Gang" operating in the city.

Pick-pocketing and purse-dipping have risen dramatically in the past few weeks and police are convinced the crimes are the work of a gang targeting old people in the city centre.

John Nicholson, Coventry’s crime prevention officer, said:

"It is certainly an increasing problem at the moment – we have had least 20 or so cases since the beginning of the year and that is certainly far more than normal.

"Figures had crept up around Christmas time and it then went quiet, but it is on the increase again now.

"It is mostly old people who are the victims, but I do know of one woman in her 30s who was robbed.

"They do work in a gang – one member distracts the victim and another performs the theft.

"We are talking of amounts around £50 - £60 and to old people in particular that represents a lot of money."