Organised crime gang shoplifted £130k by the trolley load
The group from Essex were caught by a 'determined' Surrey PC
Six thieves who travelled all over the south of the country stealing more than £130,000 worth of goods have been caught by a Surrey Police officer.
Between January 2022 and Feb 2024, the gang targeted shops as far apart as Suffolk, Somerset, Surrey, and Cornwall stealing everything from toilet roll to alcohol, nappies to cleaning products, and selling them on.
In November 2023 PC Ben Marshall in West Surrey was allocated one shoplifting case from Tesco in Guildford. The thieves has filled seven trollies worth of goods and left without paying.
The PC found links between this incident and some others with similarities across Surrey and Sussex. He noted they often targeted Tesco stores and contacted their national security hub.
His work eventually led him to identify six thieves, who were all living in Essex.
As the odds of being able to arrest all six at once were not high, PC Marshall instead took a bold step and sent them all an ultimatum – a letter to say they were under investigation for theft in Surrey and offering a two-week window to come in voluntarily or face arrest.
His plan worked and a solicitor representing all six suspects reached out to arrange an interview date. PC Marshall and two colleagues made the journey to Essex and conducted six back-to-back interviews over the course of one 17-hour-shift hitting them with not just the Surrey offences but all the others he had linked to them - 86 crimes in total.
Each of the defendants was then charged with conspiracy to commit theft from a shop.
Individually, they are thought to have been responsible for the following amounts of stolen goods:
Tania Patmore – 231 trollies – £116,163.00
Jason Raven – 188 trollies – £94,539.20
Nicola Patmore – 152 trollies – £76,436.00
James Mytum – 143 trollies – £71,910.40
Samantha Drum – 116 trollies – £58,332.80
Marlie Patmore – 27 trollies – £13,576.80
PC Marshall said: “I am incredibly pleased that these individuals have now been held to account for years of deliberate and targeted offending.
“I knew I had something when I linked the first few similar offences, but I had no idea at the start of this how far and wide this ‘simple’ shoplifting case in Guildford would eventually go.
“These criminals assumed they could hide the breadth of their offending by travelling far and wide across the south of England - but they were wrong.
“Their sentences will have a significant impact on reducing their propensity and their ability to re-offend.”
On Monday, 31 March at Guildford Crown Court, 50 year old Nicola Patmore of Colchester was given a two-year custodial sentence suspended for 18 months.
At an earlier hearing on Tuesday, 28 January at Guildford Crown Court, the other five defendants were sentenced to the following:
50 year old Jason Anthony Raven of Stanford Le Hope – three years in jail.
41 year old James Mytum of Colchester – three years in jail.
52 year old Tania Patmore of Stanford Le Hope – two-year custodial sentence suspended for 18 months.
30 year old Samantha Drum of East Tilbury – two-year custodial sentence suspended for 18 months.
29 year old Marlie Patmore of Basildon – 20-month custodial sentence suspended for 12 months.