Norwich shoplifters jailed

A pair of persistent Norwich shoplifters have each been sentenced to 14 weeks in prison.

It follows a series of incidents that occurred between 30 September 2023 and 26 October 2023 where numerous items have been stolen including meat, coffee and chocolate products, mainly from Co-op stores in Norwich.

Chelsea Townsend, aged 23, of Dolphin Grove, Norwich, admitted to six counts of theft from a shop and common assault.

Vinnie Peach, aged 29, and of the same address admitted to seven counts of theft from a shop and three counts of failing to comply with a Community Protection Notice banning him from entering Co-op stores in the city.

They were both arrested on 2 November and remanded in custody by magistrates the following day.

While on remand they engaged with police staff from Operation Converter after they had TIC’d other offences of shoplifting with local officers.

As a result of further investigations Townsend asked for six other shoplifting offences to be taken into consideration, and Peach asked for ten.

They appeared at Norwich Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 8 November for sentencing and were each handed 14 weeks in jail.

In addition Townsend was ordered to pay £100 compensation for the common assault.

Both separately and together the pair targeted Co-op stores multiple times stealing steaks, chocolate, laundry products and coffee among other items often taking more than £100 worth of goods at a time, sometimes more than once a day.

All the thefts were caught on CCTV.

Duncan Etchells, staff supervisor for Operation Converter, hailed the support of shop staff who identified the suspects in person and via CCTV.

He said: “Peach and Townsend are both persistent shoplifters who have so far chosen not to change their behaviour. It was only after the excellent initial work of Norwich officers along with the shop staff they were identified as responsible for these offences, arrested and charged. Hopefully a custodial sentence will get them the support they need, have a positive effect, and lead to them stopping their shoplifting offences.”