Romanian shoplifter jailed over King's Lynn store thefts

Bugdan-Leonard Florea, 26, admitted acting as a look-out for the organised operation that targeted stores to steal hundreds of pounds worth of goods.

The father-of-two, from Radford Road in Nottingham, was tackled by security guards after being followed when he was spotted on CCTV at Tesco in King’s Lynn.

Norwich Magistrates’ Court was told he had been arrested in a vehicle on July 1 with almost £400 worth of stolen bottles of spirits.

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He was also found with hundreds of pounds worth of air fresheners that had been stolen from a nearby B&M store. 

Lesla Small, prosecuting, said he had been part of an organised shoplifting operation that saw thieves target stores and steal large quantities of goods.

She said he had no links to Norfolk and was simply part of a group that travelled the country.

The Romanian had also stolen air fresheners worth hundreds of pounds from B&M (Image: Google)

Florea pleaded guilty to two shop thefts in Norfolk and one in Swindon, Wiltshire, where spirits worth £1,200 were stolen from Tesco.

The court was told he had previously been convicted of high value shop thefts in West Yorkshire and had been made subject of a community order, which he had now breached.   

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Magistrates told him he had shown a “distinct pattern of dishonesty and lack of respect for property”.

He was jailed for 16 weeks and ordered to pay £1,200 compensation to Tesco.

Emma Lloyd, mitigating, said he had been attempting to support his family that includes a daughter aged three and a three-month-old son. 

“He works in car washes but he simply doesn’t earn enough money to support them,” she said.

“He acted as a look-out on these occasions and he is apologetic for getting dragged into that situation.”