The heist involved a street chase by a bystander, CCTV footage and an extensive foot search by police.

Despite changing his outfit to fool officers, the offender was given away by his bright-green shoes. 

Robert Moore, from Bourke, pleaded guilty in Orange Local Court to the theft which occurred on September 25 at 10am. 

A 57-year-old woman, from Port Macquarie, went into the Commonwealth Bank in Summer Street and withdrew $1,000 cash to add to the $2,000 already in her purse. 

She told police she had such a large amount because she wanted to spend it in Orange while on holiday. 

She sat down inside the bank and put her purse on a table in front of her while she put the $1,000 inside her bag. 

Meanwhile, Moore had entered the bank and lined up to order a printout of his bank statement, police statements tendered to the court said.

He took the paperwork and sat down next to the woman.

Within seconds, he grabbed the bag and took off towards the door .

The woman jumped up and chased him out of the bank. 

She screamed and a bystander took up the chase down Lords Place towards the Royal Hotel. 

The witness, chasing Moore and a co-accused, lost the two men after they ran down the alley between the Royal Hotel and the bottle shop. 

However, Moore had left his bank statement on the table where he stole the woman’s purse, so police had his name and address.

Police also knew what clothes he was wearing from CCTV footage of the theft and the chase down Lords Place. 

Sometime later, police in a patrol car saw who they thought was Moore in the council car park off Lords Place.

Although he had changed his clothes he was still wearing the same distinctive bright-green running shoes. 

Police stopped and searched Moore and found the clothes he had taken off inside the bag he was carrying. 

Magistrate Terry Lucas sentenced Moore to a nine-month non-parole period and ordered him to pay the woman $3,000 in compensation because police were unable to locate the stolen cash.