UK: 30 Years Later, A Woman Reunites With Her Stolen Handbag

A Scottish woman recovered her handbag which she lost 30 years ago, after it was found washed ashore in Aberdeen, United Kingdom. Audrey Hay's worn-out bag still had most of its contents including credit cards, pens, lipstick, keys, and tablets. However, cash, worth about £200, was missing. The bag was found by 11-year-old Maisie Coutts who was taking a walk along the River Don, when she found the washed-up handbag. With the help of social media, Coutts' family was able to track the name on the credit card and return the bag to Hay.

81-year-old Hay's bag was stolen from her desk at work over 30 years ago, as reported by BBC. It is thought that the thief stole the money from the bag and threw it into the Don.

How The Bag Was Returned

Maisie Coutts and her parents were taking a walk at the mouth of River Don in Aberdeen when the 11-year-old spotted a handbag on the banks. Coutts told BBC Scotland News, "I was just walking around with my dog and my mum and my dad and then I pointed out, 'Oh, there’s a handbag."

She added, "I said ‘Mum do you want a new handbag?’ Then I said maybe there’s something in it." The Coutts decided to open the bag and look for the identity of its owner. "We saw like a credit card and we saw the name so we were really confused, who is this, are they alive, are they not?" she exclaimed.

When they found the dates on the credit cards, they were shocked to find dates from the 90s. Kim Coutts, Maisie's mother told BBC, "When we noticed the dates on the cards were all 1993 I thought oh my goodness this has been in the water a long time."

They decided to use social media to track the owner of the cards. “We saw the name Audrey Hay and got home to do some research about her. I figured out a bit about her," Maisie Coutts said. Her mother added, "I posted about the lost bag and identity information on social media and eventually we did track down Audrey... Audrey confirmed it was her bag and that it was stolen 30 years ago... The power of social media is incredible.”

Audrey Hay was elated to retrieve her bag. "This wasn’t expected. It’s amazing it survived. It’s the only bag I have lost," she exclaimed. Maisie said that she was delighted to have helped Audrey. "It was really unexpected and crazy and kind of cool. I definitely told my friends,” she told BBC.