Gang targeted Corby, Wellingborough, Northampton, Brighton, Glasgow and South Yorkshire stores as part of 'national campaign of shoplifting'
A gang member from Luton who helped steal perfume worth thousands from high street shops ‘the length and breadth of the UK’ has been sentenced.
Emanuel Purece, 21, was one of a group of people who walked into stores, swept high-value, easy-to-shift goods of the shelves, then walked out again.
He and his co-defendants targeted shops across the country after Purece was recruited because he owed a debt to one of the members.
Purece, of Butlin Road, Luton, has now been before Northampton Crown Court to be sentenced for his part in the ‘national campaign’.
The court heard on Thursday (January 15) about his latest offences.
- On 13 July 2024, Purece went to TK Maxx in Brighton and was caught on CCTV with three men and one woman. They took items worth £799 without paying.
- On December 7, 2024, he visited JD sports in Brighton and with four other men and they began to gather clothing, including wearing some of it, before walking out of the shop without paying. The items stolen were worth £1,774.
- On December 5, 2024, he stole perfume worth £2,200 from Boots in Wellingborough’s Swansgate Centre. He was caught on CCTV with three other men shoving 25 bottles of designer perfume into bags before leaving the store.
- On December 31, 2024, Purece visited Boots in The Parade, Northampton with three other men. They were seen breaking the perfume cabinet before secreting perfume inside their clothing. The shop said the losses were £2,885. Store guards caught Purece and managed to recover perfume worth £1,805.
- Later on the same day, he went to Sixfields Boots and took perfume testers worth £400.
- On January 9, 2025, he stole multiple products worth £1,000 from Boots in Corby.
He was arrested on April 21, 2025, when police manged to link all the thefts to Purece’s gang.
The court heard he had six previous convictions that were committed around the same time as these offences.
He was before Glasgow Sheriff's Court last February where he admitted two offences committed in November 2024, and in Sheffield around the same time.
Recorder Jacob Hallam said that Purece’s offending was part of a ‘national campaign of shoplifting’, which also included stores in Glasgow and South Yorkshire for which he had previously received a suspended prison term.
The court was told that Purece had pleaded guilty at a pre-trial hearing last April and had been on a qualifying electronically-tagged curfew for the past 267 days.
Courts often count these days as being worth half of those that are spent in prison – so for Purece this would amount to the equivalent of 134 days in custody.
Mitigating, Rajesh Pabary, said that his client had become involved in the gang because he had borrowed a car from one of them, then damaged it. He had then been considered to have owed a debt to them, so he was recruited to repay that debt through stealing.
Mr Pabary said: “He has turned his life around.
"He is no longer in debt to this individual who seems to have disappeared.
"He’s in a relationship and is trying to be a productive member of society.
“He does not want to be involved in crime.”
Mr Pabary said Purece was now studying and had a part time job earning £180 per week, which all went on commuting to university in London.
He was also paying off a £300 fine and £1,500 in compensation from his previous offending, which left him with very little money.
Purece, who wore a Canada Goose Coat and Armani tracksuit bottoms to court, looked down as Recorder Hallam sentenced him.
He said: “Your role in this gang has not been entirely straightforward.
"It’s shoplifting on a big scale that involved clear identification of shops that have the sort of goods, for example perfumes, which are of high value and were easy to obtain.
"You targeted shops the length and breadth of the UK.
“You have shown not only that there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, but that you have been rehabilitated.
"You have not committed further offences. You’re at college, you have a job, you’re in a stable relationship and at a stable address.
“Make sure you’ve put your offending behind you.”
He sentenced him to one month in custody for each offence, to run concurrently, suspended for six months. He will also have to complete 50 hours of unpaid work.
No costs of compensation were ordered to be paid because of Purece’s limited funds.
Recorder Hallam added: “Do your work. Stay out of trouble.”