Supermarket thieves admit stealing over £600 of goods
Partners in crime pinched over £600 of goods from three Sunderland stores during a nine-week shoplifting spree, a court heard.
Jason Brown, 55, and Lindsey Klein, 46, of the same house in Litchfield Road, Carley Hill, targeted retailers Home Bargains, B&M and Tesco.
Between Saturday, August 2, and Wednesday, October 8, they stole £351 of meat in three raids at Home Bargains’ outlet in city centre Trimdon Street.
They also swiped £112 of washing tablets, meat and chocolate in two thefts from Tesco Express in Station Road, Fulwell, on August 2 and Wednesday, August 27.
And on Friday, October 10, they made off with £138 of coffee and butter from B&M at Pallion.
Brown separately committed a further seven thefts from shops between Saturday, June 28, and Wednesday, October 1.
Magistrates in South Tyneside were told six were against the same Tesco branch as with Klein, netting him £307 of meat, coffee and chocolate.
The seventh was at the Spa outlet in North Hylton Road, in which he took a £3 pack of Lurpak butter.
Prosecutor Emily Sanderson said: “For each of the offences, Mr Brown was identified by shop employees who contacted the police.
“Police identified Ms Klein after they viewed CCTV footage from each of the shops.”
Brown, who has 53 previous convictions from 138 offences, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of theft from a shop.
He was last before a court last year for two counts each of burglary and fraud.
Klein, who has eight previous convictions from 14 offences but has not offended since 2014, admitted six counts of the same charge.
Ian Cassidy, defending Brown, told magistrates: “I think you will need a pre-sentence report, given the history of offending.”
Alastair Naismith, defending Klein, said: “You may feel that the guilty pleas take it outside the community threshold.
“You may be able to deal with it by way of a financial penalty.”
Magistrates adjourned the case against Brown for an all-options report and he will be sentenced at the same court on Tuesday, January 6.
He was granted bail on condition he does not enter any Tesco, Spa, Home Bargains or B&M store in Sunderland.
They moved straight to sentencing for Klein and ordered her to pay £301 in compensation to the retailers.