Leamington shoplifter jailed for nine months

A persistent and prolific shoplifter has been jailed after admitting a string of theft offences at shops across Leamington and Warwick over a six-month period.

Dean Allton, of Rugby Road, Leamington, stole items including: cosmetics, champagne, power tools, and wireless earphones from supermarkets and specialist homeware shops between January and July of this year.

But he was arrested by officers at his home on Thursday (20 July) after an incident at a supermarket on Emscote Road in Warwick the previous day.

Having been stopped as he tried to leave the store without paying, he used foul and abusive language towards the member of staff - telling him: “I will bang you out.”

CCTV footage of the incident led to Allton being identified and brought in for questioning. Several other thefts were put to him and the 47-year-old was subsequently charged with:

• ten counts of theft from a shop

• one count of using threatening/abusive/insulting words/behaviour to cause harassment/alarm/distress

• one count of using threatening/abusive/insulting words/behaviour with intent to cause fear of/provoke unlawful violence

Appearing at Coventry Magistrates’ Court on Friday (21 July), Allton pleaded guilty to all 12 offences.

He was handed a 36-week jail sentence and was also ordered to pay victim surcharge fee.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.