An 84-year-old woman had her purse swiped from her car by an opportunist thief.

But hours later things went from bad to worse for shell-shocked senior Joan Wilkie, when the brand new $21,000 vehicle was stolen from her driveway.

Kind-hearted Mrs. Wilkie is today recovering from the weekend double whammy, as garages across the Island were put on alert for the missing car.

Her ordeal started on Saturday evening when she stopped on her driveway off Pitts Bay Road to help a bystander she thought may have been lost.

Her daughter, Annabella Fraser, said the culprit then opened the unlocked passenger door and grabbed her mother?s purse and raincoat. The purse had credit cards, house keys and $100 inside.

But it also contained a device that activated the ignition and door locks of the senior?s gleaming new Nissan March ? a car she only drove off the showroom forecourt last Tuesday.

And by yesterday morning the vehicle Mrs Wilkie had owned just five days had been stolen.

Ms Fraser said she thought the chain of events leading up to the theft of the vehicle were unique. She added: ?I think it?s bizarre.

?I?ve never heard of a purse being stolen and then a car being stolen using the contents of the purse.?

Ms Fraser said the thief greeted her recently widowed mother pleasantly before grabbing the purse.

?My mother thought he might need help so she did not drive past him,? she said. ?He was standing right inside her property.

?He did not hurt her in any way. The whole thing happened very fast and left her very shocked.?

She said that her civic-minded mother was very well-known in the community. A Girl Guide Commissioner for seven years, she launched the Bermuda Youth Parliament.

And she was honoured by the Queen in 1973 when she received an MBE for her work in the community

Ms Fraser added: ?Unfortunately, my mother was being too civil because she saw a person in our neighbourhood who could have been lost and she stopped to see if she could help him.

?It was natural for her to stop and see if he needed help. This will make her think twice about stopping for people in future.?

Ms Fraser said that because the car was new, the 84-year-old was not used to its locking mechanism.

Aware that the vehicle locking device was missing with the purse, Ms Fraser said the new Nissan ? registration 06780 ? was fully locked on Saturday night.

But the missing device was able to override this, and the distinctively coloured ?blueberry? vehicle has now been reported stolen, amid fears that it could already have been taken to a garage for a re-spray.

Ms Fraser said her mother was furious after having just replaced her last car ? which she had driven for 16 years. She called on garages to keep their eyes peeled for the missing Nissan.

Bermuda Police last night confirmed that a Pembroke woman reported a purse stolen at about 6.45 p.m. on Saturday. And a spokesman said that she also reported her car missing at about 11.15 a.m. next morning.

Police said the suspect was dark-skinned about five feet eight inches tall and was of medium build. A search of the area failed to locate the purse on Saturday night, he added.

Ms Fraser said the suspect was wearing a crash helmet and glasses, as well as a gold-coloured top which was splattered with cream paint.

Anyone with information about the purse and car theft, or who knows the whereabouts of the missing Nissan, should call the Vehicle Crime Unit on 295-0011.