A “master of disguise” dyed his hair different colours and used glasses to evade attention from security staff as part of a £28,000 shoplifting spree at Boots stores across the country.
Craig Sawyer, 51, has been banned from all shops belonging to the pharmacy chain after committing 21 theft offences in Shropshire, the West Midlands and Devon.
Sawyer would enter stores with the intention of stealing as many high value items as he could to resell for profit, said Devon and Cornwall Police Inspector James Rees. The shoplifter was jailed for 14 more weeks for five offences in Devon last week.
In January, he had been jailed for 42 weeks for 16 thefts, including 12 at Boots stores, in a prosecution led by West Mercia Police.
Boots said Sawyer was responsible for £28,000 thefts from its stores nationally.
Despite Sawyer’s efforts change his appearance, police said the criminal could be identified by a brown shoulder bag he always took into stores he targeted.
“Unfortunately for this master of disguise, he always took his favourite brown shoulder bag with him, earning him the nickname of ‘Satchel Man’ in many of the stores he targeted,” said a spokesperson at West Mercia Police.
As well as being banned from all Boots stores, Sawyer is banned from Worcestershire under a five-year criminal behaviour order issued at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court in January. Last week, at Newton Abbott Magistrates’ Court, he was sentenced to the additional jail time while appearing via video link from prison.
He pleaded guilty to 21 shoplifting offences across the two cases.
Nearly half a million shoplifting offences were recorded by police in England and Wales in a year, the highest 12-month total on record, figures released in January showed. Levels had already reached a 20-year high last year, with the latest figures showing the crime continues to be on the rise.
Major retailers have been raising concerns about the increased cost of theft while the government has vowed to tackle low-level shoplifting and make assaulting a shop worker a specific criminal offence.
Last month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said a new Crime and Policing Bill will give police and communities power to “take back control” of town centres against offences such as shoplifting.
Officers would gain new powers to act in the “golden hour” of investigations to search a place where stolen items have been electronically located, such as through a phone-tracking app, wifi access or Bluetooth.
On Sawyer’s latest conviction last month, a Boots spokesperson said: “We have been investing significantly in measures that will deter and disrupt criminal activity, stop theft, protect our team members, and support the police with high-quality evidence bundles on repeat offenders, so that our stores remain a safe and respectful environment for team members and customers.
“It was a great result from all involved and shows the capability of the software and benefits of collaboration."
