Kayleigh Bradley had 128 offences on her record before she appeared at Chester Crown Court last week
Kayleigh Bradley has been jailed(Image: Cheshire Police/Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)
A mum caught stealing more than £4,000 of goods from Cheshire Oaks had already been spared prison four times in a year. Serial shoplifter Kayleigh Bradley, 37, had been given “chance after chance” to clean up her act by judges and magistrates before her luck finally ran out.
Bradley, who has 128 offences on her lengthy criminal record, preyed on shopkeepers by using a foil-lined bag and a small “de-tagger” she had bought on the internet to beat the security alarms. In her latest spree, Bradley was caught stealing thousands of pounds-worth of goods from stores across the Cheshire Oaks complex over a two-month period.
This included £3,213-worth of designer sunglasses from an opticians on three separate occasions. Chester Crown Court, sitting on Friday, August 8, heard how Bradley and a male accomplice embarked on another expedition to the Ellesmere Port retail park.
Selda Krasniqi, prosecuting, told the court: “On Monday, May 26, at 11.40am CCTV showed the defendant and a male enter the Cheshire Oaks car park in a black Volkswagen car. The defendant exits the vehicle carrying a number of shopping bags then enters the Cosmetic Company store and selects a number of cosmetic items with a total value of £872.25.
“These are placed in her bag before she walks out making no attempt to pay. She then placed the items in the boot of the Volkswagen vehicle. She then entered the David Clulow store, selected five pairs of designer sunglasses valued at £1,495.
“Those items are placed in a foil lined bag. She leaves the store, again making no attempt to pay, then returns to the car and places the bag in the boot. The assistant manager of this store reviews the CCTV and identified further incidents where Ms Bradley had committed thefts.
“On Tuesday, April 1, Ms Bradley was seen to enter the store, select four pairs of sunglasses before leaving the store without making any attempt at payment. Then on March 15, she selected two pairs of sunglasses before leaving without making any attempt at payment. The offending was sophisticated in the nature of planning.”
Police arrested Bradley after officers saw her and the unnamed male get out of the Volkswagen at McDonalds in Rock Ferry. They recovered the foil lined bag and items from David Clulow and the Cosmetic Company.
Bradley admitted four charges of theft and one of going equipped for theft. She also admitted being in breach of the four suspended sentence orders. The mum, of Rugby Road in Aintree, had been repeatedly brought before various court for a string of store thefts.
The four suspended sentences were imposed by magistrates and crown courts in Liverpool between September 2023 and September 2024 after Bradley regaled her family woes – complaining of a “difficult” childhood after being orphaned aged 10, being in-and-out of care, and adding that she had been a victim of domestic abuse.
Bradley begged another judge for mercy for a fifth time, telling the court she needed to spend more time with her 12-year old son. In mitigation, defence counsel Oliver Saddington said: “She is a woman who has struggled with enormous difficulties growing up. She was in and out of care, passed from pillar to post and has struggled with alcohol issues throughout her life.
“She continued stealing as she needed the money. There was the unsavoury company she was in and she owed money to these people and that is why she felt she has no choice but to steal.
“The reason these chances have been given to her is that somebody with her difficulties needs time to rehabilitate. There is a method by which the court could deal with the breaches and give this woman a chance to prove herself.”
But Judge Patrick Thompson saw through Bradley’s pleas, as he sentenced her to 20 months in prison. The judge said: ”Why keep stealing if she wants to spend time with her son? I am afraid the defendant thinks court orders do not exist and do not matter.
“This is the first time I have seen someone receive four consecutive suspended sentences. I have seen people with sad and difficult backgrounds and I have got sympathy for that – but chance after chance has been given.
“If somebody keeps stealing from shops they are going to prison whatever the problem. Shopkeepers are trying to make a living. People who are working there rely on those shops for employment so why should they have to lose £4,000? She has been given a number of chances to prove herself – but all she proved herself to be, I am afraid, is a thief.”
Judge Thompson went on to tell Bradley: “‘You need to understand that people cannot afford for others to steal from them. You may see stores as easy prey but the shop owners and people who work there rely on them for their families.
“When people constantly steal from shops, eventually the shops find it difficult to operate economically. It is a real problem but it is particularly serious when you are serving not one, not two, not three but four various suspended sentences.”