A SOUTHAMPTON woman is on the hunt for the good samaritan who paid for her shopping in an act of kindness.

Jackie Henshall got to the till in Lidl in Thornhill where when she found she had left her purse at home.

"I'd stupidly taken my purse out of my handbag. I had that awful sinking feeling, it was just hideous," said the 59-year-old.

Instead of getting annoyed, the lady behind Jackie in the queue offered to pay for her shopping and would not take no for an answer, refusing any offer of repayment.

Jack said: "[The woman] just stepped in and smiled and said don't worry I've got it for you.

"I offered to pay her by PayPal when I got home but she didn't want any of that."

All the good samaritan asked in return was for Jackie to "pass [the act of kindness] on".

"She just wanted me to help somebody else when I could."

"I was absolutely amazed to be honest, no one has ever done that for me and I felt very humbled," Jackie said.

She has since bought a load of shopping, including food, sanitary products and toiletries which she plans to donate to a food bank at St Mary's Church in Sholing.

Jackie said: "Sholing gets some pretty bad press sometimes and that just was amazing."

She posted about the action in the Sholing residents' Facebook page and the post has since received 360 likes and overwhelmingly positive comments.

One user commented: "My faith in humanity has been restored."

In the post, addressed to her mysterious good samaritan, Jackie said: "I promise that after today I will always be the one to step up and help and many times as it's needed.

"Your generous act today will stay with me always."