Serial shoplifter spared jail four times because of ‘difficult childhood'

Telegraph

5 days ago

A serial shoplifter who was freed by the courts four times in a year has been sentenced to jail.
Kayleigh Bradley, 37, received four consecutive suspended sentences after she complained about her 'difficult' upbringing when she was in care after being orphaned at the age of 10.
Bradley, who has 128 offences on her record, continued to prey on shopkeepers across Cheshire and Merseyside using a foil lined bag and a small ''detagger'' she had bought on the internet to beat the security alarms.
At Chester Crown Court she was sentenced for the theft of more than £4,000 worth of goods from stores at the Cheshire Oaks retail complex in Ellesmere Port over a two-month period – including the theft of £3,213 worth of designer sunglasses.
During the case she tried to escape jail for the fifth time, citing her childhood and saying she needed to spend more time with her 12-year old son.
Oliver Saddington, defending, said Bradley 'struggled with enormous difficulties growing up' as she was 'in and out of care, passed from pillar to post and has struggled with alcohol issues throughout her life'.
He said she 'continued stealing as she needed the money', and added: 'somebody with her difficulties needs time to rehabilitate' and 'there is a method by which the court could deal with the breaches and give this woman a chance to prove herself'.
However, she was sentenced for a total of 20 months after Judge Patrick Thompson said: ''Why keep stealing if she wants to spend time with her son?'
He said it was the 'first time' he had seen someone receive four consecutive suspended sentences, and although he had sympathy for people with 'sad and difficult backgrounds', she was given 'chance after chance'.
He added: 'If somebody keeps stealing from shops they are going to prison whatever the problem. Shopkeepers are trying to make a living. People who are working there rely on those shops for employment so why should they have to lose £4,000?
'She has been given a number of chances to prove herself – but all she proved herself to be, I am afraid, is a thief.'
'12 year criminal career'
Bradley, from Fazakerley in Liverpool, has a criminal career dating back at least 12 years.
In 2013, after she admitted stealing £580 worth of goods from River Island, Oasis, Warehouse and Dorothy Perkins she was freed with a two month curfew after a judge ruled: 'Everything indicates she intends to change her life.'
But over the following decade she was repeatedly before various courts for a string of thefts.
Four suspended sentences were imposed by courts in Liverpool between September 2023 and September 2024 after Bradley regaled her family issues – adding that she been a victim of domestic abuse.
But she breached all four of them to embark on thieving sprees with a male accomplice – once again using her foil lined bag to stop tagged goods setting off the alarms.
Selda Krasniqi, prosecuting, said that on May 26, Bradley and a male were seen on CCTV leaving the Cosmetic Company store at Cheshire Oaks with items to the value of £872.25, she then entered the David Clulow store and stole five pairs of designer sunglasses valued at £1,495.
The manager at the store then reviewed CCTV and identified further incidents of Bradley shoplifting, Ms Krasniqi said 'the offending was sophisticated in the nature of planning'.
Bradley admitted four charges of theft and one of going equipped for theft. She also admitted being in breach of the four suspended sentence orders.