A persistent shoplifter has been jailed and had more restrictions added to her criminal behaviour order as the Gedling neighbourhood policing team combats retail crime.
Prolific thief Samantha Clay was previously given a two-year criminal behaviour order, in November 2023, including conditions not to enter any Co-op store in Nottinghamshire, after police successfully applied to the magistrates’ court.
The 38-year-old, of no fixed address, was also banned from going to the Victoria Retail Park in Netherfield under the terms of her order which she was handed after pleading guilty to stealing coffee and packs of chicken and bacon from the Co-op in Westdale Lane West, Gedling, on 19 and 23 October, and stealing jars of coffee from the B&M store at Victoria Retail Park, Netherfield, on 19 October.
However, despite repeated warnings, she flouted her criminal behaviour order and continued to offend. This resulted in her being arrested and brought back before magistrates in Nottingham, on 23 December 2023, when she admitted to four shop thefts and breaching her order.
She was given one last chance, receiving a three-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, but instead of changing her ways she carried out two further shop thefts and quickly found herself back in handcuffs in 2024.
Clay was arrested on 2 January for the thefts and a breach of her criminal behaviour order. She pleaded guilty and was subsequently locked up for six months when she appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 3 January.
Additional requirements were also added to her criminal behaviour order, which currently runs until 17 November 2025, prohibiting her from entering any Heron Foods or Nisa Local stores in Nottinghamshire and entering the Morrisons Daily store in Burton Road, Carlton.
PCSO Allan Cooke, of the Gedling South neighbourhood policing team, has been a driving force around work to tackle and disrupt retail theft offenders as well as offering crime prevention advice and support to retailers in his area.
In support of his ongoing proactive problem-solving work, PCSO Cooke built up an overwhelming file of evidence against Clay which resulted in her criminal behaviour order being initially imposed and later varied.
He said:
“Serial shoplifters like Clay have a significant detrimental impact on the businesses they target, and their behaviour has a deeply negative impact on our wider communities. Quite frankly, they should not have to put up with this sort of behaviour.
“I hope her prison sentence and variation of her order sends a clear message that people cannot get away with this of criminality and that the robust action we have taken reassures the wider community that we will not tolerate offenders like Clay whose illegal activity makes people’s lives a misery.
“While I hope Clay gets the support she needs to address her harmful behaviour, if she continues to breach her order following her release, she will find herself back before the courts and could face an even longer spell behind bars.”
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