Court: Serial shoplifter is jailed over Chorley theft spree

Four shops in Chorley were repeatedly targeted during a one-woman crime spree, a court has heard.
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Shoplifter Vanda Evans carried out a string of thefts in the town between July and September, Preston Magistrates’ Court heard.

In all she stole items worth £539.

The court heard the 32-year-old’s crime spree started on July 2 when Evans stole £50 of meat from Tesco Express in Adlington.

Preston Magistrates courtPreston Magistrates court
Preston Magistrates court
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On July 26, Evans walked into the Aldi store in Chorley, and stole 30 units of Imperial Leather shower foam, worth £60, from Aldi.

Prosecutors said on August 23, back at the Tesco Express store in Adlington, she stole £78 of meat.

The next day her loot from the same store included six cans of Lynx and five air freshener refills worth £43.

On that occasion she also assaulted a man.

The bench was told on August 31, she helped herself to £50 worth of packets of cooked meats at Tesco.

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Her offending continued the following month when she stole £40 of meat and fish from Tesco on September 19, and £40 meat from Tesco Express in Chorley on September 22.

Evans, of Austins Lane, Horwich, Bolton, pleaded guilty to assault and a string of 11 thefts - including one earlier in the year on April 30, in which she stole £89 of coffee and air freshener refills from the Co-op on Bolton Road, Chorley.

The bench said she had a “ flagrant disregard for court orders”.

They also ruled the offences were aggravated by her record of previous offending, which includes prolific offending across Chorley and Bolton.

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She was jailed for a total of 16 weeks and must pay a £122 surcharge.

Last year it emerged Lancashire had seen an increase in shoplifting offences of 13 per cent, according to a survey.

It reported there were 9,457 shoplifting offences recorded by Lancashire Constabulary in 2017-18, compared to 8,379 the previous year.

Nationally, recent research by the ‘British Retail Consortium’ worryingly showed that shoplifting accounted for £500 million - or 71 per cent - of the £700 million direct cost incurred from retail crime in the UK between April 2016 and March 2017.