Four women dubbed the 'John Lewis gang' have been jailed after targeting a string of outlets during a shoplifting spree which saw them steal more than £9,000.
Antonela Busuioc, 28, Geogeta Necula, 27, Narcisa Constantin, 30, and Narcisa Dragusin, 27, raided John Lewis outlets in Norwich, Peterborough and Ipswich, over a few days in February and March 2020.
The group, who are Romanian but have addresses in Leicester, went to the shops armed with scissors with which they cut security tags from items before hiding the stolen items in bags.
On two occasions, they aroused the suspicions of staff, but managed to escape. They were finally caught while stealing from the Norwich store.
Norwich Crown Court heard the department store lost £9,500 worth of goods stolen by the gang, including Apple products, electrical items and perfumes.
Benedict Peers, prosecuting, said in the first set of thefts the gang targeted two separate branches of John Lewis on the same day, February 1, 2020, striking first at the Norwich branch before heading to the Peterborough store later that afternoon.
Eight days later, there was a "further targeting" of the Peterborough branch by two of the defendants, Necula and Busuioc, who entered the store with "very large bags".
When they left they set off the alarms, having stolen electrical items, and were followed by security staff but they escaped.
Mr Peers said about 20 days later the gang went to the Ipswich branch and took Apple goods, worth about £2,000.
This time, however, staff became suspicious and the pair left the store and fled, although the goods were recovered.
Then, on March 1, the gang went to the audio department at the Peterborough John Lewis and stole £1,882 worth of Apple devices after again cutting tags and putting the items into large bags.
Later the same day the gang turned up at the Norwich branch where they took fragrances.
This time, the gang were detained outside the store and arrested.
All four defendants appeared at court on Wednesday (May 24) to be sentenced having admitted theft offences.
Judge Katharine Moore told the defendants it had been "financially motivated offending".
Busuioc was jailed for 14 months, Constantin for eight months, Dragusin for 10 months and Necula for 12 months.
Jailing each of them Judge Moore said "If you persist in this type of offending the sentences will only become longer".
Katherine Higgs, mitigating for Busuioc and Constantin, said it was clear there was "planning involved" but not "significant planning"
Andrew Hill, mitigating for Dragusin, said she had a "difficult, chaotic" lifestyle, and has four children with a fifth due later this year.
Samrat Sengupta, representing Necula, said she was remorseful and "terribly sorry" and knows this lifestyle will lead to extreme chaos.
Investigating officer PC William Watkiss, said: “This was a well organised criminal operation targeting premises across East Anglia.
"Securing these convictions required dedicated teamwork from officers over Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Constabularies.
"The sentence is a fantastic result and should be a warning to others that this kind of activity will not be tolerated.”
Sentencing of the John Lewis gang comes just a year after another group, also from Romania, were jailed for a shoplifting spree in the city.
That gang - Iona Raducanu, Bianca Raducanu and Luisa Raducanu together with a teen who cannot be named - were from the same family and had been in Norwich on an "away day shoplifting exercise".
They stole champagne and make-up totalling £9,421 from three stores.
They took £340 of champagne from Majestic Wines, before taking more than £3,000 of cosmetics from Boots and then almost £6,000 worth of make-up from House of Fraser in Chantry Place.
Iona Raducanu, then 57, from Ilford, was jailed for 24 months and Bianca Raducanu, then 21, of London was handed an 18 month and two week sentence.
Luisa Raducanu, then 18, from Ilford, was given a 14-month sentence, suspended for 18 months and ordered to complete up to 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR).
And the teenager was given a 12-month referral order and ordered to pay £50 compensation to Majestic Wines and £400 to Boots.
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