POLICE have apologised to a Good Samaritan who handed in cash she found - after they implicated her in a theft.

The woman was subjected to the embarrassing ordeal nearly three months after she handed in the £45 cash she found in a New Forest shop, when police issued a witness appeal to help identify her.

Now red-faced officers at the centre of the fiasco have issued an apology, blaming a “breakdown in communication” for the mix-up which led to CCTV footage bearing her image being distributed to the Daily Echo and other media organisations.

The woman, believed to be in her 50s, found £45 in McColls newsagents in Milford Road, Lymington, on March 8 and handed it to staff at Lymington Police Station later that day.

But on June 12 an officer investigating the case authorised a press release featuring her image, stating they needed to trace her as a witness in connection with a theft by finding offence.

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The statement urged her to report to officers because she could hold “vital information” into the case, despite the money - believed to belong to a pensioner - having already been handed in.

Yesterday a police spokeswoman confirmed inquiry centre staff had received the money the same day the footage was recorded and added: “Unfortunately the investigating officer was unaware of this when he asked for a media appeal to be issued.

“The officer and area superintendent have both apologised to the woman involved for any embarrassment caused and thanked her for her honesty.

“There was clearly a breakdown in communication in this case and an honest mistake was made in the course of an investigation.

“The money has been returned to its owner.”

She stressed the woman - who was too upset to speak to the Daily Echo - was not being treated as a suspect in the case.

However the woman is deeply embarrassed and is understood not to have returned to the store since her ordeal.