Northampton magistrates hit thief with £2,500 bill for 13 pairs of designer shades

Northampton magistrates ordered a serial sunglasses thief to pay back more than £2,500 to a store after he pleaded guilty to pinching 13 pairs of designer shades.

Alan Lewis Smith-White also admitted a second trip to the David Clulow outlet shop at Bicester Village, netting another six pairs worth £850 two weeks later, during June last year. The 47-year-old, of Bouverie Road, Hardingstone, was also sentenced to a total of 12 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months.

Court documents showed Smith-White had raided a Towcester opticians for four pairs of sunglasses in June — and was given a community order by Northampton magistrates last year. But he was later found to have targeted the Clulow store the following day, swiping glasses worth an average of £195 EACH, and again on June 26. His total court bill came to a whopping £2,755, including £239 in prosecution costs and a surcharge to fund victim services.