AN artful pickpocket - or pickpockets - has targeted about 20 shoppers in Andover town centre during the last month.

The thefts have taken place mostly in the Chantry Centre and involved people who say their purses or wallets were safely tucked away in bags or pockets.

But a police spokesman said: "Generally the victims said that they neither saw nor felt anything."

There is nothing to indicate from the crimes whet-her the thefts are being carried out by one person or a group of people.

The first the victims know that they have been targeted is when they search for their wallet or purse.

On Saturday alone four people fell victim to the pickpocket altho-ugh one of them said she thought a man standing behind her acted suspiciously. For the full story see Friday's Andover Advertiser.