Shoplifting operation helps catch Highbury Vale thief red-handed
Plain clothed officers caught a serial shoplifter red-handed when she tried to steal again.
Clare Turner, from Highbury Vale, was already awaiting sentencing for multiple shop thefts when she went into a Wollaton store on November 8.
Having taken items from the shelves at the Middleton Boulevard Co-op, Turner made for the exit without paying.
Unbeknownst to her, however, a neighbourhood officer had been watching her on CCTV as she helped herself to stock.
The City West team were running a plain clothes operation in the Co-op – following a series of recent thefts – when Turner walked in.
Having stolen from the store the previous day too, she was immediately recognised when she returned.
Turner was intercepted by officers before she reached the shop's doorway – at which point she handed over cheese, doughnuts and other items.
The 40-year-old was charged with both thefts from over the weekend, having previously admitted to 16 other shop thefts before that.
A series of different stores from across Nottingham were targeted by the shoplifter during the theft spree, between May and August this year.
Appearing at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on November 10, Turner, of Brayton Crescent, was sentenced to eight months behind bars.
Insp Gordon Fenwick, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "If her offending over that weekend wasn't bad enough, Turner was already awaiting sentencing for 16 other thefts from across the city too.
"We were therefore very pleased to hear she's now received an eight-month prison sentence, which we hope sends a message to criminals that shoplifting has consequences."