'Complete mess' - Prolific South Tyneside shoplifter stole nearly £6k of goods in 33 raids
A prolific South Tyneside shoplifter has been described as a ‘complete and utter mess’ in court after a £6k, 33-occasion raid across the area.
A prolific shoplifter has been jailed after pinching almost £6,000 of goods in 33 raids over seven weeks across Sunderland and South Tyneside.
Phillip Padgett, 32, is starting a total of 40 weeks behind bars for those offences and for others for which he had previously walked free with a suspended sentence.
Crime spree across South Tyneside and beyond
The homeless offender’s spree began on Friday, April 17, when he stole £88 of meat from Heron Foods' branch, in Hedworth Lane, Jarrow.
And it ended on Sunday, June 7, when he was arrested while taking £21 of meat from a Sainsbury's store in South Shields, magistrates in South Tyneside heard.
He targeted the same Heron outlet a further four times, swiping £521 of stock in all, and the same Sainsbury's three more times and an outlet of the retailer in South Shields, taking £960 of items.
Padgett, of no fixed address, also struck at One Stop's shop in Cleadon three times and its store in Sea Road, Fulwell, Sunderland, five times, making off with £1,929 of goods.
His spree also included six thefts from Tesco’s Express shop, in Marsden Road, South Shields, where he netted £1,707 of items.
And he stole four times from Asda’s outlet in York Avenue, Jarrow, swiping around £173 of stock.
Padgett also pinched four times from the Co-op’s branch in Whitburn and once from its shop in Chiswick Square, Hylton Castle, Sunderland, making off with £743 of goods.
‘Complete and utter mess’
Prosecutor Glenda Beck said: “There are 33 thefts from a number of stores. There are 48 theft or kindred matters on his record.
“The defendant is subject to a suspended sentence order which was put in place on April 23 of this year for offences of shoplifting.
“The starting point is activation of the suspended sentence. There was also a suspended sentence in July last year for similar offences.”
Angus Westgarth, defending Padgett, who pleaded guilty to all 33 thefts, said: “This young man is a complete and utter mess. He has an addiction to crack cocaine.
“He’s been homeless, and he’s been forlorn, and he’s stolen out of desperation. You are going to sentence him to prison today.
“There’s a starting point of 24 weeks and I’ve told Mr Padgett there will be consecutive sentences for all of these.
“It’s to his credit that he wasn’t interviewed about this. He has accepted all of the offences.
“He needs to get his head around what’s coming next so that he can sort his life out and break the cycle.
“He’s never going to be able to pay this money back. He’s impecunious and is probably going to be on long-term benefits for the rest of his life when he gets out of prison.”
Magistrates heard his tally came to around £5,862 with £237 of stock from one theft from Sainsbury’s being recovered.
They jailed Padgett for 26 weeks for each theft, to run concurrently, and activated his 16-week suspended sentence to run consecutively.
He was also ordered to pay full compensation for all of his crimes.