A trio of shoplifters behind separate thefts at a Bestwood store have all appeared before the courts.
Liam Newton, Wayne Lee and Stacey Blackham all tried to pinch stock from Co-Op, in Beckhampton Road.
The three thieves were caught red-handed by shop staff though, with officers arriving moments later to put them in cuffs.
Police made the quickfire arrests on back-to-back days earlier this week, with two of the trio linked to other offences too.
Prolific thief Liam Newton was apprehended first up on Monday (11 August) while trying to walk out of Co-Op with bottles of wine he hadn’t paid for.
That was actually the sixth time he’d targeted the Bestwood-based store – making him a familiar face to shop staff and the neighbourhood policing team.
Fast-forward to the following day (12 August), and the team were notified once again, after Wayne Lee was spotted trying to steal handfuls of chocolate bars.
As with Newton, this would prove to not be an isolated incident, with Lee already wanted for a shop theft at a different store in the Hucknall area the day before.
Stacey Blackham then became the third shoplifter to be caught, when her plans to steal nearly £100 worth of meat products were thwarted and she was arrested.
Newton, 31, Lee, 55, and Blackham, 39, all found themselves in the same building again on Wednesday (13 August), after being charged and sent to Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.
Having pleaded guilty to six counts of shop theft, Newton, of Wendling Gardens, Arnold, was sentenced to 10 weeks behind bars.
Lee, of Chatsworth Drive, Hucknall, was jailed for six weeks, after admitting to the two thefts he’d been charged with.
Blackham, of no fixed address, also pleaded guilty to her theft, and was made the subject of a community order, with requirements to complete five rehabilitation activity requirement days.
She was told that, should she fail to meet these requirements, she will be brought back before the courts and face the prospect of a prison sentence too.
Inspector Paul Ferguson, district commander for Nottingham’s City North, said:
“Tackling acquisitive crime like shoplifting has been a policing priority for Bestwood and the wider City North area for some time now.
“As part of this, our officers work closely with local stores to put the names and faces of offenders on our collective radars, so that we can take immediate action when they’re spotted.
“All three of the people caught earlier this week have a history of shoplifting behind them, so to see all of them apprehended and put before the courts was a great result, both for us and the wider community.
“Shoplifting is a blight on society that is unfair, not just on the stores and staff who work there, but to the honest members of the public who follow the rules and spend their hard-earned money on their shopping.
“That’s why it remains one of our policing priorities, why so much work goes on force-wide to stopping shoplifters and in many cases helping them turn their lives around, and why results like these three should be celebrated.”
• Image shared after attack in broad daylight in Nottingham city
• Blue-green algae warning for both Colwick Country Park lakes