Serial shoplifting duo from Corby ordered to pay back £10k to Next, Boots, M&S, JD Sports and other stores as they are sent to jail

A jaw-dropping crime spree by two Corby men has seen both sent to jail after they targeted stores across the town and beyond.

Long-time thief John David Neil McAulay, whose record stretches back nearly two decades, and his pal Matthew Causer brazenly walked into Corby shops and filled their boots full off loot before they sold it on.

McAulay, 47, and Causer, 44, carried out most of their crimes together and some alone.

The pair, both of no fixed abode, appeared before magistrates in Northampton earlier this week to plead guilty to 25 thefts from big-name stores.

With prisons bulging at the seams, prison is rare for shoplifters, but the bench decided that such was the scale of their crimes, there was no other suitable punishment for the pair of pilferers.

McAulay, who has dozens of previous convictions for knife possession, shoplifting, assault, and failure to comply with court orders, was given a year in prison and Causer was given a sentence of 28 weeks.

Causer will have to pay compensation to the shops he targeted totalling £5,051.

McAulay will have to return £5,152.92.

Here is the full list of the shops targeted by the men and the items they stole:

Matthew Causer

- Shopping worth £65 from Nisa in Occupation Road on July 27.

- Items worth £120 at One Stop Shop in Studfall Avenue on October 20.

- Goods in Boots at Phoenix Parkway to the value of £126 on October 26.

- Goods from Boots worth £1627.50 between October 28 and November 13.

- Clothing belonging to Next in Phoenix Parkway worth £500 on October 30.

- Items at Next totalling £340 on November 1.

- Items in Next costing £255 on November 7.

- Clothing worth £350 at Next on November 14.

- Items for £200 from Next on November 16.

- Clothing to the value of £1,040 belonging to Next on November 17.

John McAulay and Causer

- Clothes from Next at Phoenix Parkway worth £480 on October 17.

- Homeware items to an unknown value belonging to Next on October 20.

- Items to the value of £500 belonging to Next on October 22.

- Shopping from One Stop Shop in Studfall Avenue worth £110 on October 26.

- Goods from One Stop Shop worth £100 on October 27.

- Items to the value of £415 belonging to Next on October 28.

- Clothes worth £275 at Next on October 29.

- Food from M&S at Phoenix Parkway worth £120 on November 18.

McAulay

- Shopping worth £57.92 from Aldi at Dalton Road, Corby, on September 5.

- Clothing worth £230 at Next at Carina Road Retail Park in Kettering on October 23.

- Items from Boots at Phoenix Retail Park worth £356 on October 28.

- On November 7, stole sports gear worth £1,435 from JD Sports in Rushden Lakes

- Goods from Boots worth £1,374 between November 8 and November 22.

- Clothing worth £410 from Next at Phoenix Parkway on November 14

- Clothing worth £1100 from Next on November 17.