Prolific Peterborough thief to spend Christmas behind bars after being caught in Queensgate

Georgina Young, 32, was arrested by the local neighbourhood policing team in Queensgate shopping centre on Thursday afternoon (17 December).

She was detained by security staff after leaving John Lewis without paying for goods worth £531, including three handbags, a jewellery box, two manicure sets, a water bottle and flask.

The previous day she stole two handbags and two purses worth £179 from the same store.

Young, of Myrtle Avenue in Dogsthorpe, was charged with the two instances of theft, as well as a third instance where she stole £277 worth of boxes of chocolates from the BP filling station in Bretton Way last month, using a child’s buggy to conceal the stash.

Sergeant Andy Morris, from the City Centre Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “In the last year, Young has been arrested eight times for shoplifting and theft offences. As a result of cases such as these, my team and I have been working closely with retailers in the city centre to support them in reducing criminal activity.

“Prior to the current pandemic, between April last year and March this year, the anticipated loss to Queensgate shopping centre due to retail theft was in excess of £100,000. Between August and September this year, reported loss stood at nearly £14,000 and that was with a 30 percent decrease in footfall due to Covid-19, in comparison to August and September in 2019.”

In October, Young was jailed for 12 weeks, suspended for nine months, after admitting stealing wine, groceries and laundry products from convenience stores in the city.

As a result of her most recent offending, the previously suspended sentence has been activated and added to a 16-week sentence Young was handed at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Friday (18 December).