Thief who admitted repeatedly targeting the same Rushden shop jailed for a year

Jack Gavan, 27, of Grange Road, Northampton, appeared at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on January 9 in connection with 17 theft charges, all relating to Rushden’s Grangeway Co-op.

He entered guilty pleas to 16 counts of theft from a shop and one count of attempted theft, committed between September 16 and January 1 for items including laundry powder, alcohol, chocolate, meat and coffee.

Gavan also admitted one count of failing to appear at court on October 21, and failing to comply with the supervision requirements imposed following a previous conviction.

He was jailed for a total of 52 weeks and ordered to pay a total of £170 costs and £805.50 compensation.

Speaking afterwards, Sergeant Pete Hatch of Northamptonshire Police’s Retail Crime Team said: “Jack Gavan has been a thorn in the side of staff at this store for months and I’m really pleased to see his persistent offending result in a custodial sentence.

“Retail crime is not victimless – these thefts can have a serious impact on store workers and collectively contribute to rising prices for everyone else.

“Our team works hard to build the strongest possible evidence packages so prolific offenders like this have little choice but to enter guilty pleas, and it’s great to see the seriousness of such thefts reflected in a prison term.”