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05

Mar

Last Updated: 05/03/2026
Knaresborough
Knaresborough

Pair plead guilty to spree of chocolate thefts in Harrogate and Knaresborough

by John Grainger

| 05 Mar, 2026
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0

screenshot-2025-07-01-at-12-58-04-2
Sainsbury's Local on Leeds Road, Harrogate.

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A prolific pair of sticky-fingered suspects have pleaded guilty to a string of thefts, including stealing almost £3,500 worth of chocolate.

Vasile Leonard Ionescu, 26, of Spring Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, and Daniel Florin Mihai, 29, of no fixed address, appeared at York Magistrates’ Court today (March 5) charged with 13 retail crime offences from Suffolk to North Yorkshire, including several in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

After joining the dots between intelligence reports linked to a series of offences, North Yorkshire Police’s road policing group arrested the defendants at 10.30am on Tuesday (March 3) on the A1(M) heading north towards Dishforth.

Ionescu and Mihai were held in custody for questioning, and later charged with:

  • Theft of chocolate valued at £300 from the Co-op in Woodbridge, Suffolk, on 12 February 2026
  • Theft of coffee (unknown value) from the Co-op in Fordham, Cambridge, on 19 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate and meat products valued at £400 from the Co-op on Skipton Road, Harrogate, on 25 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate valued at £240 from the Sainsbury’s Local in Knaresborough on 25 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate valued at £140 from the Co-op at Starbeck, Harrogate, on 25 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate valued at £138.60 from Tesco in Knaresborough on 25 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate valued at £391 from Sainsbury’s on Cold Bath Road, Harrogate, on 25 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate valued at £116.25 from Sainsbury’s on Leeds Road, Harrogate, on 25 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate valued at £500 from Sainsbury’s in Haxby, York, on 25 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate valued at £272.09 from the Co-op on Station Lane, Harrogate, on 26 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate valued at £673.90 from Sainsbury’s in Malton on 26 February 2026
  • Theft of chocolate valued at £307 from Tesco Express on Saltaire Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, on 27 February 2026
  • Attempted theft of chocolate (unknown value) at Tesco on Ripon Road, Harrogate, on 1 March 2026

Both men pleaded guilty and they have been remanded into custody ahead of sentencing at York Magistrates’ Court at 10am on Wednesday, March 25.

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