Advent calendar thief to spend Christmas in prison after Nottingham shoplifting spree

A Nottingham thief who stole £150 worth of Advent calendars will spend Christmas behind bars. Warren Staniforth also snatched steaks, cigarettes and prawns during a seven-store shoplifting spree in October.

The 39-year-old began stealing from the Co-ops in Carrington and Sherwood, Tesco in Bobbers Mill from October 15, taking items such as cigarettes, packs of steaks, prawns and sweets. Staniforth also helped himself to around £150 worth of Advent calendars, as well as bottles of booze and large quantities of coffee on October 30.

He was arrested by police in the following days and was linked to several other thefts including filling a bag with £400 worth of steak from a Kirkby-in-Ashfield store on July 30, and repeatedly using credit cards that had been reported stolen. He was charged with eight counts of shop theft, a burglary, and two counts of fraud by false representation – things he later admitted to in court.

Staniforth was also found guilty of stealing a smart phone after breaking into a vehicle parked in Berridge Road, Forest Fields, on July 26. He appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court to be sentenced on Thursday (November 7), where he was jailed for 24 weeks.

Staniforth, of no fixed address, was also ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation to the owner of the phone he stole. PC Jonny Morgan, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Over the space of several weeks, Warren Staniforth walked into shop after shop with the sole intention of stealing things. Whether it was boxes of chocolates, bottles of alcohol, or packs of meat products, he helped himself without a care in the world that what he was doing was wrong."