Prolific thief ordered to pay back more than £2,000

Goods from meat worth £18 to electric toothbrushes worth £620 were just some of a long string of thefts from shops across Newton Aycliffe, Spennymoor and Coundon carried out by Stuart David Brown.

 

Newton Aycliffe Neighbourhood PCs Joshua Roberts and Adam Crawford trawled through the town’s CCTV and through detective work, managed to identify and link Brown to all of the thefts.

 

They then traced the 31-year-old to the town’s Job Centre where he was promptly arrested and taken into custody.

 

Brown admitted the offences in interview and pleaded guilty to 21 counts of shop theft when he appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

 

Four more charges of theft were also taken into consideration.

 

Brown, of Priestman Road, Newton Aycliffe, was handed a 26-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to repay the full amount of the items he stole at £2,249.96.

 

PC Roberts said: “Offenders like Brown bring harm to our communities and we will always work hard to bring them to justice.

 

“Our team worked around the clock to gather the necessary intelligence and track down Brown to take him into custody and I’d like to thank the community for continuing to work closely with us to effectively reduce this type of crime.”