Shoplifting gang target supermarkets across the country, including in Suffolk, to steal goods worth £130,000

A shoplifting gang who filled 857 trollies with £130,000 worth of stolen goods handed themselves in after police wrote them all an ultimatum letter.

The six thieves targeted dozens of shops and supermarkets across Suffolk, Somerset, Surrey and Cornwall between January 2022 and February 2024.

CCTV footage captured them stuffing trollies to the brim with items and brazenly leaving the stores after making no attempt to pay.

They stole everything from toilet roll and nappies to alcohol and cleaning products — before they sold them on at cut-down rates in ‘their very own criminal supermarket chain’.

But their persistent offending was unravelled when Surrey Police's PC Ben Marshall was allocated a shoplifting case from a Tesco in Guildford.

He noticed links and similarities with other cases across the counties.

PC Marshall identified six thieves, all living in Essex, who were linked to a web of crimes across 13 different police force areas.

He knew the odds of being able to arrest all six at once were low, so instead, he sent them a letter which advised they were under investigation for theft and gave them a two-week window to hand themselves in.

The officer's plan worked and a lawyer representing all six suspects reached out.

Each of the defendants was then charged with conspiracy to commit theft — linked to a total of 86 crimes.

They were then all individually linked to the crimes they were responsible for.

Tania Patmore, 52, from Stanford-le-Hope, helped fill 231 trollies with £116,163 worth of items. She was sentenced to two years in prison - suspended for 18 months.

Jason Raven, 50, also from Stanford Le Hope, was linked to 188 trollies filled with £94,539.20 worth of goods. He was jailed for three years.

Nicola Patmore, 50, from Colchester, helped steal £76,436.00 worth of items in 152 trollies. She was given a two-year custodial sentence suspended for 18 months.

James Mytum, 41, also from Colchester, was jailed for three years - over 143 trollies filled with £71,910.40 worth of goods.

Samantha Drum, 30, from East Tilbury, was linked to 116 trollies filled with £58,332.80 worth of items. She was given a two-year custodial sentence suspended for 18 months.

And Marlie Patmore, 29, from Basildon, was given a 20-month custodial sentence suspended for 12 months – after helping fill 27 trollies with £13,576.80 worth of stolen goods.

PC Marshall said: "I am incredibly pleased that these individuals have now been held to account for years of deliberate and targeted offending.

"I knew I had something when I linked the first few similar offences, but I had no idea at the start of this how far and wide this ‘simple’ shoplifting case in Guildford would eventually go.

"These criminals assumed they could hide the breadth of their offending by travelling far and wide across the south of England - but they were wrong.

"Their sentences will have a significant impact on reducing their propensity and their ability to re-offend."

Meanwhile, Hannah Galloway from Tesco Security Hub, said: "Thanks to the incredible support from Surrey Police during this investigation, these offenders who were targeting our stores up and down the country are no longer.

"This has made our stores safer for our customers, colleagues and communities in general."