Millionaire shoplifts £200 worth of meat and wine from Tesco
It ‘beggars belief’ why recycling boss did it, says his lawyer
A MILLIONAIRE company director was caught on CCTV shoplifting £200 worth of meat and wine from a Tesco supermarket. Ronan Ghosh, 39, was filmed attempting to smuggle the goods out of the store in a bag after paying for other items at the checkout.
The company boss heads a global recycling company with a turnover of £16million, lives in a £ 500,000 home in an exclusive neighbourhood and runs two BMWs.
But a court heard that he was caught shoplifting after heading to a Tesco store following an argument with his girlfriend. His own barrister told the judge the offence ‘beggars belief’.
Ghosh initially elected trial by jury but he then pleaded guilty to theft. Judge Murray Creed imposed a 12-month community order on Ghosh and told him to complete 80 hours’ unpaid work and pay £575 costs.
Birmingham Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Ghosh visited the Tesco store in Stratford Road, south Birmingham, on February 21 and was captured on its security cameras selecting items, including meat and bottles of wine, which he put into a bag.
Lal Amarasinghe, prosecuting, said he then went to the checkout and paid for shopping that was in his trolley, but not for what was in the bag. Ghosh was detained by a security guard and police were called.
In 2009, the businessman set up RG Recycling – based in Solihull, West Midlands – after more than a decade working in the plant and recycling industry.
Charnjit Jutla, defending, told the court the firm supplies ‘high-value machinery for the recycling industry’. He added: ‘It is a global business. It has a yearly turnover of £16million. It beggars belief as to why he finds himself in this court. He accepts full responsibility for what he has done.’
Mr Jutla said Ghosh, who lives in a tree-lined road in Solihull, was ‘disappointed with himself and shocked and embarrassed’. On the day of the theft, his father had told him his mother had been diagnosed with skin cancer and that had ‘worried him a lot’. Mr Jutla said there was also a will being discussed within the family which had put considerable strain on him.
Ghosh told police he had visited the Tesco store after having an argument with his girlfriend. He claimed he had not intended to steal the goods.
One neighbour of Ghosh said yesterday: ‘He has two really nice cars – BMWs. It’s bizarre that he would do something like shoplifting. He seems really nice and pleasant.’
A number of people in the public eye have been accused of shoplifting. In 2012, celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson was cautioned by police after being caught stealing cheese, onions and discounted coleslaw during five shoplifting episodes in 16 days at a Tesco store in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
The father-of-four later said counselling sessions had identified childhood abuse as a possible trigger for the shoplifting spree.
Sue Terry, the mother of Chelsea and former England football captain John Terry, was cautioned along with his mother-in-law, Sue Poole, in 2009 after being caught with £800 of food and clothes from Tesco and Marks & Spencer in Weybridge, Surrey.
In 1990, TV presenter Richard Madeley was accused of taking wines, spirits and soap powder from a Tesco store in Didsbury, south Manchester. He was cleared the following year.
‘He is shocked and embarrassed’