Prolific Peterborough shoplifter ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to Next after stealing coats

A prolific shoplifter has been ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to Next – after stealing nearly a dozen coats.

Stuart Treadwell, 29, entered Next, at Brotherhood Retail Park, on 20 October and stole three coats worth a total of £216.

Treadwell, of no fixed address, returned to the shop three times between 28 October and 14 November, taking 11 coats worth a total of £819.

On 16 November, a customer saw him rolling up coats and putting them in a carrier bag. They alerted staff who detained him and waited for officers.

He was arrested and bailed to appear in court on 15 December, but he failed to appear.

On 20 December, an officer from Peterborough neighbourhood policing team saw Treadwell stood outside One Stop shop, in Herlington Centre, Orton Malbourne, and arrested him for failure to surrender to court bail.

Treadwell appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Friday (19 January), where he admitted five counts of theft from a shop and failure to surrender to court bail. He was sentenced to a community order which instructs him to complete a six-month drug rehabilitation requirement and a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR).

He was also ordered to pay £1,035 in compensation to Next and was fined £10 for his failure to surrender.

PC Khaled El Jizzi, who investigated, said: “Treadwell knew what he was doing when he entered the shop with no means to pay and a bag to conceal the items in.”