Man caught with trolley full of groceries
A man has been handed a
community order after admitting stealing £400 of food from a
supermarket in Longfield.
Michael Scott Smith, 52, from
London Road, West Kingsdown entered the store in Station Road at
4.30pm on November 28 and filled a trolley with groceries and then
left without paying.
In the car park, he and a woman
together lifted the whole trolley and the stolen goods into a 4x4
and drove off.
The trolley was later found,
abandoned and empty, near Longfield railway station.
The crime was recorded on store
CCTV and Smith was instantly recognised when he returned to the
same store on December 5.
This time he filled a trolley
with £230 of joints of meat but was confronted by the
manager.
Smith left the store without his
trolley but not before the details of his vehicle were noted so
they could be passed to police for them to investigate the earlier
crime.
Smith’s 4x4, a W-registration
Daihatsu Terios, was placed on a list of known vehicles and spotted
in Dartford on December 14.
He was quickly arrested and
taken to North Kent Police Station where he admitted to the
offence.
At Dartford Magistrates’ Court
on January 14, he pleaded guilty to one charge of
shoplifting.
He received a supervisory
community order and was ordered to repay the supermarket chain £200
for their lost goods.
PC Tony Quilter said: "This was
the right result. We’re working hard to curb shoplifting in
Longfield and this detection shows again the value of
CCTV."
21/01/13
- Click here for more Gravesend news...
- Click here for more news from across the county...