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New Look shop assistant staged theft scam with shoplifter

A NEW LOOK shop assistant fleeced her own store of more than £1,000 in clothes by working in tandem with a shoplifter.

In a complicated scam, Wendy Atkins, 50, of Kingsway, Wallasey, removed magnetic alarms, pocketed cash and hid goods behind the counter at the Liscard department store.

She kept in contact with shoplifter Caroline Crawford, 35, of Buckingham Avenue, Bebington, by mobile phone, planning handovers of shoes, bags and boots in which no money changed hands.

The pair pleaded guilty to theft, and in Atkins’ case theft by employee, at Wirral magistrates court yesterday.

The court heard managers at the store grew so concerned about the books not adding up, they brought in a “retail loss prevention auditor”, a specialist in monitoring shoplifters.

During October last year, Shirley Watwood monitored Atkins closely, creating a damning dossier of video evidence which also snared Crawford.

Lionel Cope, prosecuting, told the court how during one taped incident, Atkins was seen de-tagging items, placing them in a New Look bag, and putting a packet of tights beneath a keyboard.

She was then seen going to the fitting room. Crawford was later observed with items identical to the ones seen with Atkins earlier.

None were put through the till.

In another incident on October 9 last year, Miss Watwood observed a refund of £87 between the pair, which also was unaccounted for.

New Look managers put the cost of weeks of theft at £1,196.

Mr Cope said: “Mrs Atkins was suspended and questioned, denying it at first.

“Then she said she had on a regular basis handed over goods to Ms Crawford and some of them were for herself.

“She phoned back to say words had been put in her mouth and resigned shortly afterwards.”

Atkins was tearful throughout and when asked her name was initially unable to speak.

John Weate, defending, said: “You can see the effect on her, in that she was unable to answer a direct question. She is suffering from depression.

“My client is a lady of previous good character.”

Chris Murphy, defending Crawford, said: “She is of good character, has a child and is in a long-term relationship.”

Both Atkins and Crawford will be sentenced on June 11.

Liverpool Echo

Haha what a fail!

lol

what next lol

I'm not surprised though, I've had a good few jobs in my day and there's nothing worse than busting your ass to meet sales targets, to get no thanks for it, and then just be asked to meet a higher target the next week, and make loads and loads of cash for the company, to just get treated like an expendable commodity...

then again, they were probably just chavs on the rob.

dirty SMACKHEADS comes to mined.

She'll not work in retail again. I hope it was worth it

Problem for me is the mention of Jonh Weate, hes a good friend of mine AND my solicitor!!!

my solicitor to bud has been for many moons. great guy

these solicitors when acting for the defence must all have a great big book of sob story's to hand so they can real them out in defence of there client.
As far as busting your arse to meet sales targets, you can only do 8 hours work in 8 hours. an honest days work for an honest days pay

"Chris Murphy, defending Crawford, said: “She is of good character, has a child and is in a long-term relationship.”"


What's that got to with the price of fish?

If her "character" is that good and she has a fella and a child then what is she doing robbing stuff!?! It was probably mentioned because they'll possibly go down the "post natal depression" route (depending on the age of the child) to get her a lighter sentence