Thief who stole 800 creme eggs has been jailed

He must have one hell of a sweet tooth.

Portsmouth Magistrates' Court heard on Friday that Layton Richards, 29, from Brownlow Close in Portsmouth, had committed 24 shoplifting offences.

Twenty one of these offences took place in Hampshire (in Hedge End, Portsmouth, Waterlooville, Emsworth, Liphook, Gosport and Fareham), two in Bournemouth and one in West Sussex.

Thirteen of the offences happened at Co-Op stores

According to a statement from Hampshire Police, all offences occurred between Saturday 6 January and Thursday 18 April of this year.

He took a total of £3463.96 worth of produce and products from 19 different stores.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s retail crime lead, Chief Inspector Marcus Cator, said: "This sentence is just one result of an ongoing and dedicated focus on targeting our most prolific offenders as effectively as possible.

"We have been working in strong partnership with retailers regarding offenders who repeatedly target stores and victims with their persistent, and often intimidating, criminality.

"As a result of this collaboration with retail partners, we have been able to ensure that we are sharing information and evidence more effectively, resulting in stronger cases being presented to the Crown Prosecution Service," he added.

"We want to continue sending the message to repeat offenders that their behaviour, and the impact it has on its victims, is not acceptable, while also receiving any support they require to help steer them away from shoplifting.

"It is important that we continue to focus on retail crime, protecting victims and ensuring that offenders are held to account for their criminality."

This 'creme egg heist' comes three months after someone stole a whopping £134,000 worth of Kinder Buenos from a shop in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.

A lorry entered the Gillibrands industrial estate at 3am on 17 March and was hooked up to a trailer full of Kinder Buenos.

The lorry was driven to Simonswood in Kirkby, Merseyside where police later discovered the trailer with all of the chocolate already gone.