Two jailed over £60k supermarket thefts

A man and a woman have been jailed for working as part of an organised gang travelling across England and Wales to steal more than £60,000 worth of stock from Morrisons supermarkets.

Robert Alexe, aged 24, of Ardea Court, Coventry, and Elena Efta, aged 35, of Mapperley Drive, Northampton, were part of a shoplifting gang who targeted the chain often making off with over £1,000 worth of high-value products at a time.

However, their spree came to an end in Norfolk on 2 May 2023 when a security guard at the Fakenham store noticed a large amount of printer ink had gone missing.

Using CCTV footage he was able to identify the suspects and warn the Dereham store the offenders would likely target them next.

Efta and Alexe were subsequently intercepted by store security and arrested in Dereham on suspicion of going equipped to steal.

Investigations revealed the incident was part of a nationwide series and the suspects were identified as being involved in 47 known thefts from 26 different counties.

Norfolk officers working with Rachel Gillett from Morrisons Retail Crime Hub and multiple police forces were able to gather evidence including analysis of CCTV to link them with the numerous other thefts spanning Yorkshire, Wales, Humberside, Sussex, and Norfolk.

Following his arrest in Norfolk Alexe’s home in Coventry was searched by West Midlands Police where almost £9,000 worth of goods was discovered comprising items including sun creams, beard trimmers, chewing gum, and wipes.

A search of the car parked at Dereham recovered some £2,000 worth of stock.

Efta and Alexe were subsequently rearrested for the further crimes and remanded in custody on 27 June 2023.

While in prison they were investigated by Norfolk’s Operation Converter Unit which encourages offenders to admit to further crimes that can be taken into consideration (TIC’d) at sentencing.

This lead to a further 22 thefts being detected.

They appeared at Norwich Crown Court for sentencing on Thursday 23 November 2023.

Efta admitted to seven thefts and one count of going equipped. Her charged offences accounted for £12,064 worth of goods stolen between 12 October 2022 and 17 May 2023.

She asked for eight other offences to be taken into consideration, totalling £8,723 worth of goods stolen from Morrisons between 12 October 2022 and 24 June 2023.

Alexe admitted to 14 high value thefts, one charge of going equipped and one of possessing criminal property. His charged offences accounted for £27,903 of the total and took place between 26 January 2023 and 18 May 2023.

He asked for 14 other offences to be taken into consideration worth £25,168 which took place between 2 February 2023 and 22 April 2023.

Efta was jailed for 18 months, and Alexe for 27 months.

Following their sentencing Op Converter supervisor Duncan Etchells said: “They were first identified as being active in October 2022 and spent months travelling around the UK working together to steal from Morrisons.

“Their operation unravelled after they were stopped by store security in Norfolk. Following extensive research by PC Luke Brown and Rachel Gillett of Morrisons analysing CCTV and closely plotting their movements we have been able to bring these people to justice for all their offending.”