Prolific Peterborough thief spends Christmas behind bars after being caught stealing from B&M

A prolific thief who was caught on CCTV stealing gift sets from a Peterborough discount store has been jailed.

Security staff at B&M in Bridge Street in the city centre reported to police that Adele Machin, 45, had stolen items from the store at just before 2pm on 8 December.

Within about ten minutes she was located about to board a bus in Midgate and found with a Dove gift set and Remington hairdryer gift set on her, worth £29.98, resulting in her arrest.

Officers returned the items to the store and reviewed CCTV footage which showed Machin queuing at a till with another woman and as the woman paid for hair dye, Machin headed out of the store without paying for the two items she was holding.

Machin, of no fixed address, appeared at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday (December 22) where she was sentenced to eight weeks in prison after previously admitting theft from a shop.

PC Lewis Roulstone, who investigated, said: “Machin knew exactly what she was doing, working with someone else to try to distract staff from her theft.

“Unluckily for her, the whole incident was caught on camera and our officers who were on dedicated shoplifting patrol in the area were able to swiftly arrest her and return the stolen goods to the store.”

Machin was arrested by police officers who were on a day of action on 8 December as part of Operation Interstellar which was implemented across the north of Cambridgeshire to tackle shoplifting by identifying and dealing with the most prolific offenders across the district.

Since the operation began in October, 85 people have been arrested for shoplifting offences across Peterborough, with 55 people charged so far – 35 of those have been sentenced, with 15 people put in prison for a combined total of four years, and compensation and fines amounting to more than £5,700.

Earlier this year the Peterborough Telegraph revealed that shoplifting had increased by 48 per cent in the city in the space of just a year