Shoplifter jailed for 52 weeks after stealing meat from Sainsbury’s | UK | News | EUROtoday

A lady has been jailed after being caught stealing meat from a Sainsbury’s retailer. After being arrested, Stephanie Louise Batchelor, 29, assaulted a detention officer while in custody.

Batchelor, of no mounted deal with, was stopped by safety on the grocery store on Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, at round 8.30am on Wednesday, November 19. She was caught with stolen meat earlier than being arrested by police. She went on to assault a detention officer earlier than being charged the next day.

Batchelor pleaded responsible to expenses of shoplifting and assaulting an emergency employee at Portsmouth Magistrates Court. She was then jailed for a 12 months.

PC Phoebe Herringhsaw, officer within the case from Portsmouth’s Neighbourhood Policing Team, mentioned shoplifting has a big impact on companies. She is urging individuals to report any incidents to the police pressure.

She mentioned: “Targeting shoplifters continues to be a major priority in the city and we are committed to getting justice for the businesses and employees that are affected.

“Shoplifting will not be a victimless crime. For companies, it could possibly trigger unbelievable monetary harm, and for retail staff it could possibly usually imply having to face abuse and violence from the offenders.

“It’s also important to stress that we will not tolerate assaults on emergency workers, such as in this case where a detention officer was assaulted.

“We will proceed to pursue these offenders that trigger essentially the most hurt to our communities and outcomes like this exhibit that offenders will likely be handled robustly.

“Please continue to report incidents of shoplifting to us, as this helps us build a stronger picture of prolific offenders and hot-spot areas for crime.”

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there have been 530,643 shoplifting offences throughout the UK within the 12 months to March. This marked a 20% improve from the 12 months earlier than.

The ONS mentioned store theft has surged because the Covid-19 pandemic. Retails teams have expressed their concern by the rise in crime, inserting a part of the blame on organised crime teams.