A man is being sought after a woman in her 70s was allegedly pushed to the floor.

At 1.19pm on Monday, the woman was walking with her grandchildren when a man in his 20s tried to wrest her handbag from her.

She held on tight to the bag, but the man pulled with such force she fell to the ground, sustaining facial injuries.

The man, described as white and wearing a grey hoodie and work boots, ran off with the bag towards Lodge Surgery.

Det Con Spencer Dicks said: “This is particularly shocking giving the victim was with her two grandchildren, enjoying half term.

“She is understandably very shocked by what happened. This type of incident is very unusual for St Albans and we are carrying out a thorough investigation to identify the offender.

“I would appeal to anyone who was in the area yesterday and believes they saw the incident or the man described to contact police as soon as possible.” Anyone with information is asked to contact DC Dicks by emailing spencer.dicks@herts.pnn.police.uk or ring 101, quoting crime reference F1/18/715.