Hartlepool shoplifter stole hundreds of pounds of clothes from Primark and Next stores

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A shoplifter stole more than £500 of clothes from Primark the day she was due in court.

Leigh Hunter, 32, was arrested on January 8 this year after she and two others were caught on CCTV helping themselves to items valued £542 from the popular clothes shop.

That day she was due in the magistrates’ court for breaching a court community order by carrying out other shop thefts.

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On July 18 and 19 last year, Hunter stole around £150 of coffee and chocolate from Morrisons in Hartlepool.

Hunter shoplifted from Next at Hartlepool's Anchor Retail Park. Picture by FRANK REIDHunter shoplifted from Next at Hartlepool's Anchor Retail Park. Picture by FRANK REID
Hunter shoplifted from Next at Hartlepool's Anchor Retail Park. Picture by FRANK REID

In September, she was guilty of shoplifting from a Spar shop and in October while on bail she pinched clothes priced £65 from Next on the Anchor Retail Park.

Teesside Crown Court heard of all the thefts were caught on CCTV and Hunter was often with others.

Then, in November, Hunter stole a speaker from a car in Hartlepool.

She pleaded guilty to all offences.

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Jordan Parkinson, mitigating, said Hunter had been stuck wanted to get out of a “constant cycle” of offending linked to homelessness, drug issues and domestic violence.

Ms Parkinson said: “She really, really wants to work with probation.”

Sentencing Hunter, of Cornwall Street, Hartlepool, to four months in prison, Judge Jonathan Carroll said: “Shoplifting is rampant in Teesside and causing significant harm”.

He added: “The offences, taken together, are so serious only custody can be justified.”

He said Hunter’s time in jail on remand had been the most stability she had had for a while, and believed it should continue to help her prepare to safely re-enter society.

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