An off-duty police officer has been caught on CCTV stealing a rucksack full of snacks from Lidl at a store Clovelly Road, in Bideford, Devon.
Christopher Spence, 44, walked around the Lidl and casually stuffed £30 worth of nuts, cheese, drink and sweets into his bag (what, no doughnuts?) before leaving after paying for just one item at the self-checkout on February 12 this year.
He obviously wasn’t discreet enough because it was all caught on film and staff recognised him from a previous visit to the store, where, amazingly, he was working undercover and looking out for shoplifters in Lidl. You couldn’t make it up!
Feleena Grosvenor, prosecuting, told Exeter Crown Court: ‘On the day of this theft he was due back in the store in relation to an assault on staff, so his relationship with them was very much entwined.’
Initially Spence denied stealing from the store, instead claiming he had left the stolen goods in a basket at Lidl when he realised he didn’t have the right bank card. Which is a pretty stupid defence because one look at the CCTV proves this did not happen, and he did in fact leave the store with the stolen goods.
Sure enough, he later changed his plea to guilty.
Spence has now been handed an 18-month community order and is required to complete 150 hours of unpaid work. He must also pay £300 towards prosecution costs, a victim surcharge and £30 compensation to the store.
Spence has also been suspended from duty, so I guess he’ll still be receiving an income from the force while they investigate his misconduct. Why not just sack him immediately? I mean, he’s on camera committing the crime and has confessed to boot.
In any case, the police in this country clearly need better profiling methods to weed out the corrupt and dirty cops who apply to the force and give all the decent police officers out there a bad name. Not to mention better training so that officers don’t give in to temptation once they’ve already joined the force. Doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence when the officer who’s meant to be preventing shoplifting at Lidl is nicking items himself, does it?
For unreal footage of a police robot battering a criminal who barricaded himself inside a hotel room, click HERE.
