Shoplifter’s grin after she escapes a prison sentence
A TEENAGER punched the air in jubiliation after she and a friend escaped jail over a £760 shoplifting spree at Harvey Nichols in Manchester.
Unemployed Nafisa Akhtar, 19, held her right arm aloft in triumph and grinned outside court after promising magistrates she would never steal again.
Akhtar and 18-year-old Anashra Ali were caught stealing designer clothes worth £380 and £386 of cosmetics from the shelves of the city centre store.
Magistrate Suzanne O’Connell told them off for grinning in the dock as they admitted charges of theft.
She asked Akhtar: “What is your excuse? When was the last time you worked? Why haven’t you worked since? You may have heard that prison is easy but trust me it is not.
“That is your choice, you can get a grip on your life and work with probation but if you don’t then the likelihood is that you will go to custody.”
Miss O’Connell also asked Ali: “You’ve got no job you go to Harvey Nichols to steal, do you think that is acceptable?
“Do you know the effect it has on the stores and everybody in this courtroom? You shoplifting and taking things comes at a loss to the company and they will have to raise prices to recover that money.”
The pair went shoplifting on December 12 after the store, which is a favourite of celebrities, opened late for Christmas shoppers.
Prosecuting, Risha Seth told Manchester magistrates’ court: “The onduty security officer, Will Foster, describes witnessing two females acting suspiciously on the cosmetics floor at 8.34pm. He watched both of the girls make their way around the store on the CCTV systems, picking up items.
“The girls made their way towards the exits not going near the tills with no intention of paying for any of the items.
“They attempted to exit but were approached by the security guard and asked to go back inside where the items were recovered. They were able to be resold and there was no loss to the company.”
Ali, from Cheetham Hill, has a previous caution for shoplifting in March of last year, and Akhtar, from Harpurhey, has two previous convictions for shoplifting in October and December of last year. Akhtar previously stole £1,000 worth of Apple products from a store in Sheffield and was handed a 12-month conditional discharge.
Defence lawyer Nnamdi Inegbu said: “The CCTV is quite damning, which is all I can really say. Miss Akhtar relocated to Sheffield which is where one of the other offences took place, but she has had to move back to Manchester.
“There seems to be a more settled family life for her now. She accepts what she has done and that she needs to work with probation. Miss Ali has no previous convictions and admits that she was there. The amount is high. All I can say is that the items were recovered. They have accepted their parts in the joint enterprise.”
Akhtar was ordered to complete a 12 month community order and 150 hours unpaid work whilst Ali – who claimed she carried out the offence due to ‘peer pressure’ – was conditionally discharged for 12 months.
Both were each ordered to pay £105 in court costs and surcharges.