‘Menace of Morrisons’ pickpocket is finally jailed
A PICKPOCKET dubbed the Menace of Morrisons has been jailed for more than four years after she targeted older shoppers in its supermarkets.
Sharon Rooney – who had 144 offences on her record, starting in 1987 – stole purses and handbags from people as old as 89 across the North of England.
Rooney, 51, was banned from all Morrisons in Britain in 2020 after a series of thefts.
Her then neighbours in Haydock, Merseyside, were so angry at her they left empty purses outside her home at Christmas, with a note reading: “Happy Pursemess”.
Panic
The mum of five struck again from last January to April at Morrisons in Rochdale and Aldi and Asda nearby.
Etna Fell, 78, had her purse taken while she checked an item as Rooney said: “The price is down there.”
Fellow victim Kathleen Ross, 79, said: “I sometimes panic now when I’m out, I feel that I am being followed. I also worry a lot about the offender turning up at my address.”
Rooney was jailed for four years and three months at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court. She
admitted 14 thefts and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order.
She was given a suspended term of 16 months in 2020 for five thefts.
Judge Bernadette Baxter told her: “You have an appalling record...you cynically targeted old people as they go around the supermarkets, leaving their handbags on their trolleys.
“Every opportunity has been granted to you over many years for rehabilitation. In one case an elderly lady had photos of her parents in her purse lost forever. You are a menace.”
Eleanor Gleeson, prosecuting, had said that Rooney would offer to help the women, some of whom were disabled, to distract them.