When Doreen Spiteri emerged from a pharmacy and did not find her 12-year-old son in her car, she thought he was playing a joke and went to look for him in the boot.

But when she saw one of Jeff’s sandals in the car, his pocket money spread on the backseat and her handbag gone, she screamed her son’s name.

Just a few minutes before, she had parked her car outside to hand over a doctor’s prescription.

Jeff chose to remain in the car, and knowing she would not be long, she left her handbag on the passenger’s seat.

As soon as Ms Spiteri, 39, popped into the pharmacy, a woman came over and offered Jeff some sweets, but just as he was declining another man leaned through the window and snatched the bag.

Some people held me back and four men started chasing him

“I didn’t think twice. I got out of the car, losing a sandal on the way, and kicking off the other one before I gave chase,” he said, explaining that seeing a man grab his mother’s handbag was enough for him to act without a second thought.

“The thief stopped a bit further up, to remove his sandals, and as I sprinted after him I started screaming ‘police, police’ and ‘stop him’.

“I saw him throw stuff out of the handbag, and just as I was running out of breath, as I was screaming and crying, some people held me back and four men started chasing him,” Jeff told this newspaper, his eyes aglow as he relived the incident.

In the meantime, his mother Doreen was frantically looking for him, thinking “they stole my son and handbag”.

“And then a passerby asked me if Jeff was wearing an orange shirt, and as I nodded, he told me that he had seen him chasing a man.

“I immediately tried calling the police and drove off to the station.”

From there, she started driving around the streets, following directions people gave her, with the police following her in their car. Another police officer set off on foot.

She suddenly noticed a barefoot man who was trudging along out of breath.

As she slowed down and looked at him, the man turned around, put up his hands as if in surrender and yelped: “It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me”.

“I hadn’t uttered a word. I just honked to draw the attention of the police officers in the car behind me and pointed at the man.

“In the meantime, my son was nowhere to be seen and I was scared he was injured,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears.

At the police station, she was reunited with her son, whom she hugged as if she “hadn’t seen him in ages”.

“I am proud of him, and he did me a favour by chasing the man, but you could never tell how the thief would have retaliated. I have warned him to be cautious as aggressors could be armed,” she said, to Jeff’s protests of “but it was your bag”.

Ms Spiteri admitted she should not have left her handbag on the passenger’s seat.

My son was nowhere to be seen and I was scared he was injured

“I do not usually leave my handbag in the car, and I had a gut feeling something could happen as I entered the pharmacy, but I didn’t think much of it as it was a quick errand,” she said, as Jeff pulled at her arm, insisting the thief had “trespassed” and snatched private property.

“It’s true that he trespassed on my property, but it was my fault. I left the ‘temptation’ there, with the windows open.”

Although the thief managed to run off with some €120, this money was found close to where Doreen spotted him.

She managed to recover all her belongings.

Hugging her son, she expressed gratitude for the support of police officers and the passersby.

Hero of the hour Jeff Spiteri recalls his adventure. Photos: Paul Spiteri Lucas