Shoplifter jailed for going stealing four days after fine for £950 make-up theft from Boots in Northampton

Magistrates jailed a shoplifter who took £350-worth of goods from a Northampton store just four days after being sentenced for another huge shop theft.

Mirel-Iulian Catrinoiu, of no fixed abode, was fined £252 last Friday (November 6) after admitting his part in stealing nearly £950 worth of beauty products from Boots in Northampton town centre on the first day of lockdown.

But police caught him again on Tuesday (November 10) in the Victoria Promenade car park outside B&M with two carrier bags loaded with electrical items.

Catrinou, 20, who told the court he sleeps in his car and does odd jobs to make money, was sentenced to a total of eight weeks in prison for the two offences.

The court heard police noticed Catrinoiu because he seemed to be grinding drugs.

He first told officers the electrical goods — Hey, seven pairs of headphones, three pairs of earphones and two vacuum cleaners. — belonged to a friend but later admitted stealing them from the B&M store.

Speaking through a Romanian interpreter, Catrinou said: "I just want a job to earn some money to go back to my mum and dad and help them.

"I advertise on Facebook to see who needs help working in gardens, doing anything they need me to."

Catrinou was given an 18-month community order for a previous theft offence in Northampton but had failed to attend any appointments.

Magistrates revoked that order, replacing it with a four-week prison sentence and adding a second four-week term for the charge of theft from B&M. He was also ordered to pay £213 in costs and surcharges.

Message from the editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the highest standards in the world. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive.

We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you