A prolific shoplifter will spend her second consecutive Christmas behind bars after being jailed again.
Abigail Gregory was arrested on 13 December after security staff at Boots, in Lower Parliament Street, Nottingham, caught her stealing £40 worth of No. 7 gift sets (pictured above left).
Officers were called and the 40-year-old was taken into custody, where checks found she was also wanted in relation to two other shop thefts.
She stole £28.75 worth of chocolate from Sainsbury’s in Clumber Street on 20 November, and a £15 blanket from Primark in Long Row on 4 December.
Gregory appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday (15 December) and was jailed for seven weeks.
She has now gone to prison three times in the past year.
In December 2024, she was jailed for 16 weeks for multiple shop thefts and possession of a Class A drug.
Following her release, Gregory, of no fixed address, continued committing offences and received a suspended prison sentence in July for a string of shop thefts and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress.
Weeks later, in August, she was back in court having committed three further shop thefts – and so was jailed for eight weeks.
Her latest custodial sentence means she will face consecutive Christmases behind bars.
PC Phil Yates, of the City Centre neighbourhood policing team, said:
“Gregory has caused significant disruption and financial loss to businesses across the city centre. Our officers have worked tirelessly to gather evidence and repeatedly bring her to justice, and this sentence sends a clear message that persistent offending will not be tolerated.
“Prior to these latest offences, Gregory had 15 convictions for 44 offences over the past six years, of which the majority were for theft and kindred offences.
“The majority of thefts involved stealing sweets, chocolates, biscuits, coffee and other perishables. Clearly these are not items being stolen as they are required for day to day nutritional survival, but are more likely to be sold on for financial gain.
“Gregory has twice been caught with Class A drugs and was also found in possession of Class B drugs, so it is likely that she is committing these thefts to fund her drugs habit.
“She has made threats of violence towards shop staff who challenger her when she has been banned for their stores and attempted to enter and has shown a flagrant disregard for the courts by failing to comply with the conditions of her licence and committing new offences.
“We cannot allow this criminal behaviour to go unchecked and local businesses will no doubt be pleased she will be away from Nottingham’s shops for the duration of the Christmas period.
“There is significant help and support offered to individuals to help them break the cycle of offending, including our Open to Recovery scheme – but Gregory has refused to engage.
“I sincerely hope that she uses this latest spell in custody to change her behaviour. However, if she chooses not to we will keep putting her before the courts.”
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