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30
May
Man admits meat theft at Harrogate M&S
A man has admitted to stealing more than £200 worth of meat from an M&S store in Harrogate.
Thomas Reape, 56, appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday (May 28) when he admitted an offence of shop theft.
Sarah Tyrer, prosecuting, told the court a named employee at the Leeds Road M&S was working on the shop floor on May 10 this year.
At around 1.15pm that day, the woman noticed Reape with a trolley and a bag, but when he walked past the checkout area, she believed he might be shoplifting.
It was then the woman and Reape “clocked eyes”, and she thought Reape knew she “was on to him”.
Reape left the store with a colourful bag, the court heard, which was when the woman radioed to her colleagues: “Shop theft, front door”.
Meanwhile, Reape ran across the car park and across Hookstone Road and headed towards a white van.
Ms Tyrer said the woman and her fellow colleagues walked out and saw Reape near the van, but he was no longer carrying the colourful bag.
The M&S staff approached him and asked where the shopping was, to which Reape responded: “What shopping?”.
When the woman told him they meant the shopping he “did not pay for”, Reape simply “shrugged and ran off”.
Ms Tyrer said:
[Woman] and her colleagues realised Mr Reape must’ve dropped the bag somewhere, so they looked in bushes and gardens.
One of the employees looked through the windows of the van and saw this colourful Lidl bag, which [woman] recognised [as Reape having carried the stolen goods in].
The van was unlocked, so the staff members retrieved the bag from inside, which was filled with £214 worth of M&S meat products.
A few moments later, they noticed Reape peeping around a corner, but the group decided to wait by the van until police arrived.
The court heard Reape, of Ingleton Drive in the Halton area of Leeds, returned to the van with “his hands in the air”, saying:
It was me, I took the meat, but it’s not my van.
After the woman told Reape the police had been called, he ran away once more.
Police arrived at the scene and Reape was soon detained on Leeds Road by some police community support officers.
Ms Tyrer added:
A man identified himself [to police] as Thomas Reape. He told officers he’d stolen meat from a shop.
He also tried to disguise how he looked, as police found a jumper and a beanie on the ground that he had been wearing in the store.
The stolen meat was recovered and resold.
Reape has a history of thieving and was on bail at the time of the offence, which occurred just four days before he was sentenced for two separate thefts at M&S and Boots.
Defence
Reape was not legally represented in court, but he told the magistrates:
Next week, it’s all happening for me. I’m going on a drug rehabilitation programme.
Asked what the programme will entail, Reape said he will have to “attend appointments and be put on a script”.
He didn’t provide any further mitigation to the court.
Reape was ordered to pay a total of £197, which comprises an £80 fine, a £32 surcharge and £85 in prosecution costs.
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