Watch: Shoplifter caught with hundreds of Creme Eggs
A Creme Egg thief has been banned from an entire county after he stole 325 of the chocolates.
Deon De Groot, 26, was spotted by staff as he shoved the fondant-filled chocolate eggs worth £220.50 into a duffle bag at a Tesco Express fuel station.
The alarm was raised after he walked out of the store in Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, without paying.
A member of staff stopped a passing police car and officers followed De Groot and stopped him in the street at about 11.40am last Saturday.
They found he had more than a dozen boxes of Cadbury Creme Eggs stuffed inside his jacket and had dropped his bag nearby, which was also full of the chocolates.
Officers found his haul amounted to 65 boxes, each containing five of the chocolate eggs.
Pc Guy Cunningham, who made the arrest, said: 'Thanks to the quick reaction by staff who flagged us down, we were able to catch De Groot red-handed and return the stolen items to the store.'
Cambridgeshire Police released bodycam footage showing officers noticing the suspicious bulge under De Groot's jacket before his arrest.
Pc Cunningham can be heard saying: 'I'm going to put handcuffs on you, all right?
'You're under arrest on suspicion of theft from a shop, all right? Because, I mean, Christ, what have you got in there?'
De Groot replies, 'Creme Eggs', and the officer begins unzipping his jacket, saying: 'You've got Creme Eggs? Undo this.'
'You've really loaded this up'
The shoplifter offers no resistance apart from saying, 'It's all gonna fall out', as Pc Cunningham reaches into his jacket.
As the officer pulls out numerous boxes, he adds: 'Christ, you've really loaded this up.'
The footage ends with De Groot sitting with a pile of Creme Egg boxes next to him as he is read his rights before being taken away for questioning.
De Groot admitted theft from a shop and was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for a year, at Peterborough Magistrates' Court.
The thief, of no fixed abode, was also banned from Cambridgeshire for three months.
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