A WOMAN has been reunited with her purse 18 years after it was stolen with a lucky Shamrock and prized picture of Eric Cantona still inside.

Joanne Beaven, 39, was astonished after police turned up to her mum's house with her purse that she lost in her early 20s.

She was even more shocked to find the purse still had her credit cards, driving license, and cherished picture of legendary Man United player Cantona.

Joanne, who was 21 at the time of the theft in 2000, said: "Getting the purse back took me right back to that time.

"Oh, and the picture of Eric - every girl should have a picture of Eric Cantona in her purse.

"I've always had a big thing for Eric Cantona, though I don't carry his photo around with me any more.

"The whole thing is really bizarre, you don't think that a stolen item will ever turn up, never mind 18 years later.

"The purse is pretty gross and it doesn't smell very pleasant - like damp dog."

Joanne's purse disappeared when her handbag was pinched from a hotel in St Ives, in Cambs.

After realising that she would never be able to find her purse, Joanne called the police and reported it as stolen.

Joanne said: "I was working at the hotel, and I had left my bag in the office behind reception and someone waited for a moment when the office was unattended and stole the bag.

"I looked everywhere for the bag, despite knowing exactly where I had left it. After calling my best friend to have a cry, I then called the police to report it stolen."

Joanne, of Huntington, Cambs., said her bag was found in a ditch in a park a week after she reported it missing,

But said there was no sign of her purse which contained bank cards in Joanne Beaven's maiden name of Kimpton.

In 2015 granddad was reunited with a wallet he lost in France 55 years earlier.

Bill Leech, 73, mislaid the leather pouch containing his ID and driving licence in a bar.

The Brit was an 18-year-old French language student at Grenoble University when he lost it in 1960.

She said: ''The bag was found in a ditch across the road from the hotel, I was then called to the police station to go and collect it.

"Obviously anything of value was missing, including the purse."