A woman was branded a ‘pickpocket’ by a passerby after she was filmed apparently riffling through a man’s rucksack as he walked past the British Museum – but some on social media are adamant she was acting innocently.
The scene, which took place on the busy crossroads between Great Russell Street and Bloomsbury Street in London’s West End, sees the woman reach into the visitor’s bag as a large group crosses the road.
Seemingly oblivious, the man, who appears to be a tourist, continues to stroll down the pavement as the woman behind him rummages further into his bag.
Now footage has emerged of the scene and people have been left wondering whether everything is quite as it seems with some suggesting the pair may be members of the same group.
The clip starts with a large crowd of people waiting to cross the road at a traffic light just yards away from one of London’s most popular tourist attractions.
A woman has been branded a ‘pickpocket’ by a passerby after she was filmed apparently riffling through a rucksack but social media is split with some arguing she was acting innocently
The clip starts as a large crowd of people cross the road in the capital’s busy West End
The camera zooms in on the woman who put her hands in the bag while the man in front is walking across the street.
The woman, dressed in a light blue skirt, white cardigan and beige sun visor, opens up the bag halfway across the road and has a rummage around inside.
She continues to search the rucksack as the man, wearing mustard chinos and a dark blue jumper, stares into the distance.
As they reach the other side of the road, a man shouts, ‘Pickpocket! Pickpocket!’, from across the street.
Meanwhile a man, who is by her side and also wearing a hat, turns around to see where the cries are coming from.
Social media users are divided on the woman’s intentions with some slamming the person filming for not intervening.
One user posted: ‘All of a sudden the London CCTVs don’t work.’
Another added: ‘Make sure you record them and do not confront them.’
The woman, wearing a sun visor, pictured rummaging around in the bag
Using a scarf as she does so, the ‘pickpocket’ continues to boldly search the rucksack as the man, wearing mustard chinos and a dark blue jumper, stares into the distance
The incident took place at the crossroads of Great Russell Street and Bloomsbury Street just yards from the British Museum in London
And one person said: ‘So I’ll just stand here and film it lol.’
But others thought it was all a big misunderstanding and the woman was in fact a friend or family member of the person whose bag she was rummaging around.
One user said: ‘Most probably they know each other i.e, it is not stealing.’
Another posted: ‘Looks more like they are together to me.’
And a third added: ‘As someone else said, how sure are we that it’s not just his mum getting something out of his backpack? She looks like one of the party.’
The British Museum declined to comment.
