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An elderly British couple who fell victim to pickpockets as they returned to their hotel in Benidorm incredibly got their belongings back after confronting the duo - and it was all caught on camera.

Brian and Joan Ogden, from Wigan, had been out to eat and were on their way back into the Hotel Don Pancho when the organised pair collaborated to take a wallet. 

CCTV footage from the hotel shows the thief in a purple top reaching into the pocket of Mr Ogden, 80, while her accomplice attempts to block the view of Mrs Ogden, 78. But they weren't to be fooled.

Elderly couple astonishingly fight back against pickpockets

A pickpocket (right in the purple top) follows Bruce Ogden into the Hotel don Pancho in Benidorm

The thief reaches into Mr Ogden's pocket while her accomplice stands between Mr Ogden and his wife Joan

The pickpocket is then shown handing the wallet to her accomplice after taking it from Mr Ogden

Grainy CCTV footage outside the hotel shows Mr Ogden get the wallet back from one of the thieves

 After the pickpocket in purple sneakily handed the wallet to her cohort, Mr and Mrs Ogden followed the crooks out of the hotel and in a short exchange asked for the wallet back, and got it.

The Ogden's son Mick said his parents were tougher than they look. 

'They'd been for something to eat before they got the bus back to Alicante, before they flew home,' he recounted. 

'I got a call from them saying they'd been robbed, then we found out what happened - these scumbags had followed them right up to the hotel.

'They'd been following my mum and dad for a bit, and my mum saw them so she hung back as they got to the door, and saw one of them put their hand in my dad's pocket.

'So she runs back after them and gets their stuff back. When they rang me, they thought they'd lost their credit cards, but nothing was lost. 

Mrs Ogden points at the thieves as they leave while Mr Ogden checks nothing else was taken

Happy grandfather Brian Ogden, with his granddaughter Rosanna, got his wallet back from thieves

Joan Ogden, 78, spotted the thieves in action as they stole from the pocket of Brian Ogden, 80

'The annoying point for me, this four star hotel they were at, they said they know (the pickpockets). I've been coming for years and have never seen anything like this before.'

Hotel Don Pancho's guest relationship manager, Ana Labord, said pickpockets are a problem in Benidorm 'especially when tourists go to the busy open markets' but there is little that can be done.

'I showed (the Ogdens) the images, we have many security cameras and they were right by the entrance, you can see they were followed from the main road then down the walkway,' she said.

'Usually they don't go that far as there are cameras, but I guess they must have had a bad day. They tried to pickpocket them, but they realised and asked for their things back.'

The four-star Hotel don Pancho in Benidorm, where the Ogdens were staying on holiday 

Mr and Mrs Ogden were about to catch a bus to Alicante before flying home when they were robbed

She added that the Ogdens were brave to have confronted the thieves, an action she wouldn't necessarily recommend. 

'Everyone has to make their own decisions,' she said. 

'I personally wouldn't confront a thief like that but in this case they did, and you can see it worked out, they clearly did the right thing as they got their wallets back.

'Everybody should be careful, and sometimes you shouldn't confront them, but in Benidorm it's not violence that's a problem, just the pickpocketing like any other busy tourist area.'