A relative of a mugging victim has appealed to the attacker to give himself up.

The victim was a 79-year-old woman, who was robbed of a handbag containing just £20 while walking home in Bicester town centre.

Through a letter to the Oxford Mail's sister paper the Bicester Advertiser, the woman's son-in-law has asked the mugger to go to the police.

In the letter he says: "My mother-in-law was extremely shaken by the incident and required medical treatment to monitor her heart and blood pressure.

"The purpose of this letter is not to seek punishment of this individual, for on this occasion he was extremely lucky that an elderly lady did not collapse as a consequence of this incident.

"Instead I ask that he report this matter to the police or that someone who knows of this incident, even the parents of this young man, report the attack and seek rehabilitation for him back into society, before he kills, unintentionally, an old and vulnerable pensioner, and the crime becomes not that of stealing a handbag but manslaughter."

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said the woman was walking to her home in Chapel Street, Bicester, on Wednesday, August 15, around 8.30pm.

A youth on a bicycle snatched the woman's handbag as he rode by.

The youth was described as tall and skinny. He was wearing a white baseball cap and white T-shirt.

PC Rob Barker at Bicester Police Station is leading inquiries.

He can be contacted on 01869 346510.