Lair of the female Fagin
Hidden in suburban semi, £36k hoard of stolen toys, clothes … and chocolate
PILED high in every room of an unassuming semi, this treasure trove of stolen toys, food and make-up is what greeted police when they raided the home of a ‘female Fagin’.
The haul – the largest hoard of stolen goods ever uncovered by the force – included more than 700 bottles of deodorant, 200 pairs of socks, 93 bottles of perfume and 82 skin creams, as well as bottles of spirits and 157 jars and bags of coffee.
There were also stacks of chocolate bars, tools, candles, baby milk and unopened boxes of children’s toys piled up alongside carrier bags packed with cosmetics and boxed watches.
There was even a Grimsby and Cleethorpes version of Monopoly.
It took nine police officers 11 hours to remove the 2,000 items worth more than £36,000 from Lesley Mooney’s home, working in a human chain to shift items from the house into vans.
The 57-year-old received most of the goods from drug addicts in return for wraps of amphetamine.
And as her racket continued, her house started to fill up with a huge assortment of ill-gotten gains, packed into carrier bags or piled up against walls and windows.
This week, she was jailed for two-and-a-half years after she admitted possessing criminal property and drug dealing. Grimsby Crown Court heard Mooney did so well from her drug and shoplifting scam that she had more than £19,000 of untouched benefits in her bank account.
A video of Mooney’s home taken by police last March shows the extent of her criminal hoarding.
Alongside brand new electric razors and toothbrushes were bags full of groceries and house- hold items, all stolen from shops in North East Lincolnshire. It is the largest quantity of stolen property ever found by Humberside Police. Officers also found CCTV footage of Mooney weighing and measuring wraps of amphetamine and distributing it to a constant stream of visitors to her home in Cleethorpes. It is thought that in some cases she was handing over drugs in return The account £19,000 could for in shoplifted benefits remain in untouched her items. bank because ‘so great was her income from dealing in stolen goods and dealing in drugs’, said prosecutor Gordon Stables. Stephen Robinson, in mitigation, said his client had a ‘habit of hoarding’. Mr Stables added: ‘So brisk was her trade that she had over 100 visitors, some selling stolen goods to Lesley Mooney, some buying drugs from Lesley Mooney.’ He said analysis of her mobile phone showed her at the centre of supply of illegal drugs. He described her as a ‘mid-level’ drug dealer sometimes dealing in bulk, as well as carrying out ‘street deals’. Mooney had previously served a sentence of two years imposed in 2014 for similar offences.