SHOPPERS heading for London's West End stores have been urged to be on their guard after a woman was 'drugged' by a perfume salesman.

Local police are now warning that the thief's method could also be tried in shopping areas outside the capital.

The woman was targeted by a man offering to sell her cheap perfume while she was in the Selfridges car park, off Oxford Street.

Epping and Ongar police crime reduction officer Tony Ellis said: 'She was asked whether she wanted some cheap perfume and to prove that it was genuine she was asked to have a couple of sniffs from the bottle. It contained ether which made her drowsy and enabled the man to snatch her purse.'

He said: 'Losing your purse is bad enough but the consequences could be a lot more serious than that.

'Who's to say that such a crime is confined to London. If they get away with it there, there's nothing to stop them doing it further out.'