Pickpocket caught on CCTV stealing purse in Costa Coffee branch

Watch the moment when a pickpocket got caught on camera stealing from a woman’s coat in a cafe (click to play above).

Jane Kariuki, 48, targeted women to steal purses and use their bank cards.

She takes the purse from coat pocket

On 23 May last year, Kariuki - who has now been told she will be deported - was caught on CCTV taking a woman’s purse from a table in a Costa Coffee branch. The shocking footage above shows the moment when she sneakily raids an unsuspecting woman’s pocket as she is looking away.

Thief used stolen bank cards

A week later, she entered a British Heart Foundation charity shop and stole another purse from a shopper before using one of the stolen bank cards to spend a total of £106.48 at various convenience stores later that day.

On 18 June, Kariuki sat on a table behind her next victim in a buffet and slid the woman’s handbag towards her before stealing a purse.

Later the same month she was caught on CCTV using a stolen bank card to spend £100.95 at a tobacconist desk in Waitrose. All the shops were in Peterborough city centre.

Serial thief will be deported

Kariuki, formerly of Toftland, Bretton, Peterborough, appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Friday (2 May) where she was sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of theft from a person and two counts of fraud by false representation.

The sentence will be served alongside a four-year-and-three-month prison term she was given on 6 March after she admitted seven counts of theft, four counts of fraud by false representation and failing to answer bail.

PC James Cullimore, from Peterborough’s city centre Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Kariuki is a brazen and prolific thief who had been targeting women within the city centre.

“Her sentence shows how seriously these offences are taken and, upon her completing her time in prison, she will be deported.”

Advice on how to best protect yourself from thieves can be found here personal safety information webpages.