A thief has been jailed following a shoplifting spree in which she targeted a Harry Potter-themed shop and a luxury chocolate boutique.
Kim Foster, 34, embarked on a year-long shoplifting splurge in which she targeted numerous outlets in Northallerton and The Shop That Must Not Be Named, the Harry Potter store in York city centre.
She ultimately admitted 11 counts of shoplifting and one count of fraud worth over £2,600. The offences occurred between March 2024 and February this year.
Her partner, Frankie Barker, 30, pleaded guilty to two shoplifting offences which were committed jointly with Foster, including the £400 theft of sweet treats from Hotel Chocolat in York on January 24.
The couple, of Knotto Bottom Close, Northallerton, appeared for sentence at York Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Friday, August 8).
Prosecutor Nathan Hudson said that Foster’s modus operandi at each of the stores, including The Shop That Must Not Be Named, was to select various goods and then disappear without paying.
However, the thieving pair were captured on CCTV which led to their identification and subsequent arrest.
Mr Hudson said that Foster’s thieving spree began with the theft of £114 of alcohol and beauty products from the Asda petrol station on Darlington Road, Northallerton, in March last year.
In June 2024, she went into the Seasalt clothing store in High Street, Northallerton, and told staff she had lost a store gift card worth £65.95 which she never had. That incident gave rise to the fraud offence.
On December 21, she targeted Hotel Chocolat’s Northallerton branch in High Street, this time opting for the shop’s Dark Cabinet Chocolate Selection and, in keeping with the festive season, the Christmas Sleekster Chocolate Selection.
She also stole a velvetiser hot-chocolate maker. This haul alone was worth a combined £309.85.
On New Year’s Day this year, she stole a cashmere scarf and two lambswool stoles worth £202 from the Kiltane clothing store in Stonegate, York.
The following day, she stole £455 of perfume from Barkers Arcade in High Street, Northallerton.
On January 24, she went back to Barkers Arcade and stole a bottle of Lancome perfume worth £265.
On the same day, she stole £400 of choccies from Hotel Chocolat in Stonegate, York, and then, again on the same day, stole another £400 of sweet treats from the shop’s branch in The Shambles, York’s historic cobbled street.
On that very same lucrative day for Foster, she walked out of The Shop That Must Not Be Named, also on The Shambles, with £35 of Harry Potter-themed items but a cloak of uncertainty surrounds their descriptions.
Four weeks later, she stole goods worth £156 from Tesco on East Road, Northallerton. Days later, she went back to the supermarket and stole and another £20 of items.
Mr Hudson said that Foster, a prolific shoplifter, had 17 previous convictions for 29 offences including going equipped for theft. Her latest conviction was in March when she and Barker received a suspended prison sentence for separate shop thefts.
Barker had 20 previous convictions for 67 offences, of which 56 were thefts dating back to 2012. He had been to prison “many times” before.
A probation officer said that Foster, who was a mother, was “entrenched in her (criminal) lifestyle”.
Solicitor David Camidge, representing both defendants, said that Foster had endured a traumatic recent past and Barker had stolen to fund his substance misuse. They were both reliant on benefits.
Deputy District Judge Imran Hussain excoriated the prolific thieves for their “very poor” shoplifting records and their stealing of “relatively high value” items from multiple retail businesses while they were subject to court orders from previous offences.
He added: “There is a problem in this country with thieves stealing from shops and stores.”
He said that Foster was the “lead” offender in both joint thefts with Barker and, notwithstanding her mental-health issues and traumatic personal life, the only appropriate sentence in her case was one of immediate custody because there was “no realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.
Foster was jailed for 28 weeks – roughly seven months – and Barker was jailed for 12 weeks. He was shouting and swearing immediately upon sentence being passed, telling dock officers: “Don’t touch me! I’m not going to prison. I want to speak to my solicitor.”
Extra security officers were brought into Courtroom 1 as the outburst continued, but Barker eventually relented, the dock officers placed cuffs on his hands and he was led down to the cells.
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