Serial criminal with 300+ offences to her name given 36 years to pay off ever-increasing debt
A serial Sunderland criminal with over 300 offences to her name has been given 36 years to pay off her ever-increasing debt tally to the courts.
Claire MacGarva, 45, appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court to admit three shoplifting charges already owing £8,100 in past fines and costs. Magistrates added £546 to that figure by ordering her to pay full compensation to her retailer victims and a victim surcharge.
It means the new amount MacGarva owes is £8,646, which she must pay back from her state benefits at £20 a month – leaving her debt free by 2061. The court heard how she pinched £60 of chocolate from Heron Foods’ branch in East View, Boldon Colliery, South Tyneside, on Thursday, July 3.
She then stole £50 of coffee and household items from Morrisons Daily in Ethel Terrace, Castletown, Sunderland, on Sunday, August 24. And on Thursday, September 4, MacGarva swiped £322 of goods from the Boots store in The Bridges shopping centre in Sunderland city centre.
Prosecutor Paul Anderson said MacGarva entered all three stores and made off with items she had removed from the shelves without paying for. He said none of the goods were recovered and she was identified after police viewed CCTV footage.
After her arrest on Tuesday, September 30, MacGarva refused to allow herself to be mouth swiped to check for the presence of drugs. MacGarva pleaded guilty to three counts of theft from a shop and one of being a detainee refusing to provide a sample for a class C drug test.
Alastair Naismith, defending, said MacGarva, who has previously been jailed for past matters, did not want to return to prison. He revealed she had been offence free for around a month, which he insisted was a lengthy period for her, and that she was trying to change her life.
For the thefts, magistrates sentenced MacGarva to a two-month community order, with a requirement of 2pm to 10pm curfew. They ordered her to pay £432 compensation to the retailers she stole from and a £114 victim surcharge. There was no separate penalty for the drug failure charge.