A PREGNANT teacher has raised questions over airport security after her bag was tampered with on the way back from Amsterdam.

Joanna Coles, 31, of Christchurch, had no idea anything was wrong until she saw her antenatal scan picture in the hands of a member of the ground staff at Bournemouth Airport.

She had been away with her partner Nick Allen and four-year-old daughter Lucy.

"As we went through passport control I saw this girl standing there with my scan photo," she said.

"I went over and said: That's mine.' "I was so distressed that I just wanted to get home."

Later, Joanna, who works with autistic children, discovered that her camera and mobile telephone were missing.

"I was more concerned that somebody could have put something in my bag.

"It left me feeling absolutely dreadful," she said. "When we checked in, we were told that because the bag had straps on it, it couldn't go on the conveyor belt.

"We were asked to put it on a trolley away from the desk.

"There was no one with the trolley and we just went through to the lounge."

Arvin Yu, Schiphol Airport station manager for Menzies Aviation, which handled the check-in for the Thomsonfly flight, said the trolley had been under constant camera surveillance by airport police and all bags were screened before being loaded.

"Normally if something has been stolen, the bag will be open.

"If it is open before the screening process, we won't put it on board," he said.

"Pilferage does happen, but not frequently.

"If someone from the loading or unloading team has done it, it would have been noticed at the airport of arrival."

Bournemouth Airport spokeswoman Sally Windsor said: "We're delighted that our ground handling staff used their initiative to enable Joanna to be reunited with this precious photograph.

"A full investigation has been carried out and from that, it would appear that the photo was loose in the hold and blew out on to the apron when the hold doors were opened."