[jimworcs]

Incidently, Judge.... let's get real. The FA did not take the bag without the owners consent. The owner handed the bag to the FA, at the FA's request/instruction. To suggest the OP should go to the police and state that this was "theft" or taking the bag without the owners consent is ridiculous. The OP handed the bag to the FA!! The FA put the bag in the locker, according to the OP.

The scenario is that the seat belt signs were on and no one was allowed to get up. The OP retrieved the bag when the seatbelt sign went off and the purse was missing. Theoretically, this would mean that, as everyone was confined to their seats and not able to access to overhead locker, the only person who could have stolen the purse would be the FA. To do this, in front of whole plane load of passengers, quickly without being seen, defies credulity.

I suspect that the purse may have been lifted or stolen before getting on the plane, but was only noticed by the OP when she retrieved her bag. Notwithstanding this, at best she can claim negligence against BA, but there is no chance of proving theft.