Michael Murray, 33, of Percival Terrace in Brighton, had previously pleaded guilty to 33 counts of theft and one count of failing to comply with a community protection notice.
Thirty-one of the theft offences took place at a Co-op store in Whitehawk Road during May, June, November and December of last year, while the other two were at the Hollister store in Churchill Square.
In some instances, Murray would return to the same store multiple times in a day and made no attempt to hide his crimes from store staff. When confronted, he would often become aggressive and subject them to physical and verbal abuse.
On Thursday, December 16, 2021, Murray was captured on CCTV entering the Whitehawk Road store with an empty carrier bag which he filled with meat products in full view of a shopworker, before leaving the store without paying.
It was a pattern that was repeated over the course of several months and in keeping with Murray’s criminal record of 36 previous convictions relating to 124 offences – the vast majority of which were thefts.
In November last year, Murray was issued with a Community Protection Order restricting him from entering the Whitehawk Road Co-op following other reports of repeated shoplifting.
He was found to have breached the order a number of times, often returning to steal more products.
At Lewes Crown Court on Friday (February 25), Murray was sentenced to 16 months in jail and issued with a five-year Criminal Behaviour Order, which includes bans from all Co-op stores in Brighton and Hove, the ASDA superstore in Brighton Marina and Churchill Square shopping centre.
Chief Inspector Andy Westwood said: “This conviction came about thanks to some really impressive teamwork between our neighbourhood policing and response officers, Detectives, Business Crime Team and our partners in the business community.
“Business crime such as shoplifting has a financial impact, but what often goes unseen is the difficult, intimidating positions shopworkers are put in, particularly when the thefts are committed as brazenly as Murray’s.
“As a force we carry out a huge amount of work to tackle business crime, introducing measures to make reporting easier, identifying and catching repeat offenders and working with various partner agencies to tackle the root causes of this behaviour.
“I would like to commend everybody involved in bringing Murray to justice, including the victims who have supported this investigation.”
Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said: “This is a brilliant example of how Sussex Police’s new Business Crime Team is working to identify prolific offenders who repeatedly steal from shops, abuse staff and frighten customers.
“Brazen criminal behaviour of this kind will not be tolerated in Sussex and should never be regarded as low level or petty. I’m determined to help local businesses be more confident in the force’s ability to take these people off our streets.
“My Safer Sussex Business Partnership involves officers and local businesses working closely together to improve Sussex Police’s response to shoplifting and abuse of workers. This successful prosecution is a perfect example of how progress is being made and how businesses’ confidence and safety will be improved.”
