A MAN has been jailed for 11 months for seven counts of shoplifting in Nuneaton.
On January 21, 2024, Jonathan Laws, 42 of no fixed abode, was identified after entering a shop on Kem Street in Nuneaton by a member of staff.
The member of staff recognised his face from previous police media releases.
Laws had taken meat products worth around £14 and concealed them in a bag before trying to leave without paying.
The member of staff confronted Laws, who returned the items and left.
Then on February 3, he entered a shop in Newton Retail Park in Nuneaton.
He put washing detergent and other cleaning products into a bag before trying to leave.
Again, Laws was recognised by a staff member as a prolific shoplifter and was challenged on trying to leave.
The staff member attempted to take hold of the bag, spilling the items, but Laws picked them back up and walked away from the store.
Laws was also sentenced for five other charges of theft that took place in October and November of last year.
One of those charges was regarding a crime which took place on October 7, when Laws stole £37 worth of groceries from the Kem Street store.
The other four charges, which took place on four separate occasions between November 13 and 27, were all thefts of fragrance sets from a shop on Market Place in Nuneaton.
A total of 12 fragrance sets were taken, with a value of £168.
Laws was sentenced in Coventry Magistrates Court on February 6.
His sentence took into account a previous suspended sentence, also given for charges related to shoplifting.
Laws is also required to pay compensation of £205.
Town Centre Officer PC Shorthouse said: “Laws has been given a prison sentence for shoplifting, which is not an action taken lightly or used for first-time offences.
“We have had frequent contact with Laws, who has reached the point where local businesses recognise him as soon as he walks through the door and let us know soon afterwards.
“There’s clearly no future for Laws (or anyone else, really) in shoplifting, and we hope that after 11 months of prison life he’ll be ready to get into contact with support services and take better control of his life.”
