One of the UK’s most prolific shoplifting couples were caught on camera stealing four bottles of Irish Cream County Liqueur as part of a crime spree in which they stole hundreds of pounds worth of booze and hair straighteners.
CCTV footage shows Scott McSpadden, 39, brazenly walk into the supermarket and load four bottles of the liqueur into a shopping bag just feet from the entrance, before Tanya Momot, 31, opens the doors from the outside to allow him a swift exit.
Lovers McSpadden and Momot – who are already banned from entering shops together – have convictions for more than 60 thefts between them and have now been jailed again.
Their latest ruse saw McSpadden scuttle into a branch of Aldi while his girlfriend Momot kept a lookout outside. McSpadden picked up four bottles of Irish Country Cream Liqueur worth £19.96.
It comes as it was revealed police failed to solve more than half of all shoplifting cases in 2023.
Scott McSpadden, 39, was back behind bars for Christmas after brazenly stealing the alcohol from an Aldi in Cambridgeshire
His partner Tanya Momot, 31, was also jailed for her role in the crime spree
The video footage from inside the store in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, shows McSpadden peering sideways as he enters, while she hangs around outside, peering in.
A member of staff then runs after them – to no avail.
The following day, the pair entered B&M in the nearby Cromwell Retail Park and loaded carrier bags with nine Elle hair straighteners, ten Elle heated hairbrush sets and eight fruity bath fizzers worth a total of £197.71.
After being disturbed by a member of staff, they ran out of the shop.
The couple, who have a combined total of 120 criminal offences against their names, are both already subject to Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs).
McSpadden was previously wanted for the theft of 15 packs of cheese from a branch of Aldi and earlier this year both were jailed for stealing three Ted Baker sets and one Soap and Glory set, worth a total of £52.50, in under a minute from Boots in Wisbech.
Momot is banned from entering the pedestrianised area of the Horsefair Shopping Centre in Wisbech until June 6, while McSpadden is banned from the Horsefair Shopping Centre and entering any shopping store at the same time as Momot until September 19, 2025.
The pair, who were arrested on December 18, appeared at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court where McSpadden, of no fixed address, was jailed for 28 weeks after admitting two counts of theft from a shop and breaching a CBO.
The video footage from inside the store in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, shows McSpadden peering sideways as he enters
He then walks just metres to the display of liqueur and puts four bottles in his bag
The number of cases across England and Wales closed without a suspect being identified rose by a third to 205,676 in the year to July – equivalent to 560 a day
Momot, of Wisbech, was jailed for 16 weeks after admitting theft from a shop and aiding theft from a shop.
Both had additional conditions made to their existing CBOs banning them from the Cromwell Retail Park.
PC Sam Buswell, who investigated for Cambridgeshire Police, said: ‘The local neighbourhood policing team secured a CBO against McSpadden in September this year following repeated offending and issues being caused for retailers in the town, while Momot has had one in place for over a year.
‘Both have repeatedly shown no regard for the law or the court orders imposed on them.’
It comes as it was revealed last week police failed to solve 57 per cent of all shoplifting incidents in the past year – a record high proportion since 2019.
It brings the overall number of unsolved shoplifting cases since 2019 to 843,406.
In addition, just one in seven cases in the last year resulted in a suspect being charged or summonsed, down from 21 per cent in 2019.
The revelations come just a day after figures suggested shoplifters will be the most likely to avoid time behind bars under Government plans to tackle overcrowding in prisons.
Justice reforms announced in October will mean any sentences of less than a year will be suspended, with criminals having to serve their time in the community instead.
After snatching the booze McSpadden walks back towards the entrance of the supermarket
Momot, in the red coat, approaches the doors to ensure they open, allowing him an easy exit
A member of staff pursued the couple outside but to no avail
But analysis from the Labour Party showed that shop theft accounted for more than one in eight of these sentences last year, sparking fears that the main impact of the proposals will be to reduce the number of shop thieves punished with prison sentences.
Britain’s biggest force, the Met, charged 5.9 per cent of shoplifting cases, the second worst in the country behind Surrey’s 5.2 per cent, the latest full year of data to March 2023 shows.
Norfolk Constabulary performed the best in the country, with 26.6 per cent of shoplifting incidents leading to a charge or summons, with Cumbria and Lincolnshire making the number two and and three spots with 24.7 per cent and 24.3 pe rcent, respectively.
Data indicates that there is no correlation between the size of a force – and how many shoplifting incidents are recorded – and charge rates.
While the Met faced 41,984 shoplifting incidents in 2022/23 – by far the most in the country – just 2,459 resulted in someone facing a charge or summons.
But South Yorkshire Police charged 23.6 per cent of alleged shoplifters – or 2,467 out of 10,457, slightly more charges in total than the Met despite seeing one quarter of the total incidents faced by the London force.