South Tyneside shoplifter has been banned from more than 11,000 shops
Magistrates have ordered a South Shields shoplifter to stay away from 11,000 shops across the country.
A drug using South Tyneside shoplifter has been banned from over 11,000 shops after netting almost £2,500 of goods during a 22-offence theft spree.
David McDougall, 43, was ordered by magistrates to steer clear of every Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Co-op, Iceland, Next, Tesco and Superdrug in the land.
The heroin and cocaine abuser, of Bedford Avenue, Chichester, South Shields, was told to avoid them as a bail condition and ahead of his later sentencing.
Three-month crime spree
McDougall struck between Saturday, July 25, and Monday, October 12, prosecutor Glenda Beck revealed.
All his thefts were committed at outlets in South Shields except one - £797 of tanning products from Superdrug in Jarrow on Monday, September 28.
He started with a £93 theft of chocolate and sweets from Co-op’s Mortimer Road branch, South Shields, South Tyneside Magistrates' Court heard.
And McDougall’s spree ended after he pinched £30 of meat from Sainsbury’s in Stanhope Road.
In total, he stole £717 of stock, including steak, tuna and lamb chops, from Iceland stores at the Nook and Chichester Road.
From Morrisons stores in Dean Road, Chichester, and town centre Ocean Road, he pinched whiskey, meat, chocolates and ham, totalling £297.
And from the Co-op in Mortimer Road, he made off with £291 of stock in seven separate thefts, his haul including butter, milk, cheese, steak and beef.
McDougall also took ham, meat, prawns and various other goods, valued in total at £266, from Sainsbury’s in Stanhope Road.
He also swiped £84 of baby items from Next’s outlet in Waterloo Square, and £37 of scent boosters from Tesco, in Marsden Road.
Sentencing next month
Mrs Beck said: “There was some degree of planning, they are a lot of the same shops. It is up to 26 weeks custody.”
McDougall pleaded guilty to 22 counts of theft from a shop.
The Probation Service asked for the case to be adjourned for McDougall to be assessed for a drug rehabilitation programme.
In a report, an officer said he uses “quite a bit of cocaine and heroin, I believe on a daily basis”.
Magistrates granted McDougall bail on condition he does not enter “any branch” of the seven named retailers.
He will be sentenced at the same court on Thursday, November 5.