Category Archives: News

A story in the Manchester Evening News gives details of a ‘shoplifting’ woman who believed she’d been given a genuine job testing security systems at high-street stores.

A Devon woman was caught shoplifting from Boots and Wilkinsons in April and told police she had recently taken on the role of a ‘personal shoplifter’ – via a job ad on Facebook.

The York Press reports that nearly £4 million was stolen from businesses in North Yorkshire over the last year through online crime.

Between March 2015 and 16, a total of £3,952,171 was reported lost by businesses in North Yorkshire as a result of fraud and hacking.

The Evening Standard reports that a Department for Education worker swiped £1.1 million meant for youth sports projects and used it to buy a luxury flat.

Edward Fowkes Chapman – jailed for over three years – set up two companies and authorised seven separate payments to them over a two-year period.

The Burton Mail reports that a young mother who hid stolen goods from a supermarket in her baby’s push chair has been criticised by a judge, and jailed.

Judge Jonathan Taaffe told Polish national Sandra Paczkowska that she was part of “an epidemic” of thieves and jailed her for 16 weeks.

The Telegraph carries a story of pensioners stealing £6,000 worth of magazines in year from a branch of high street chain WH Smith in Stirling.

It is reported that female thieves have been spotted on CCTV pinching magazines such as Take a Break, Chat and That’s Life, with men in their 60s and 70s being caught trying to conceal fly-fishing magazines and wrestling publications.

The Courier reports that two pensioners claimed they took shoplifting ‘day trips’ and were forced to steal as they didn’t have enough money to live off.

William Wilson and Davina Cowan stated that they struggled to live off their pensions and Wilson initially believed he could steal from shops if it was OK for celebrities to do so.