Jailed: Kilburn woman who used foil-lined shopping bag to steal from designer stores

A career criminal from Kilburn with more than 200 convictions for theft has been jailed for shoplifting from designer stores using a carrier bag lined with foil.

Christine Clarke, 43, of Mowbrey Crescent, stole thousands of pounds worth of goods from Burberry, Hermès and House of Fraser by using the bag which bypasses alarm systems in the stores.

She had just been released from serving an 18 week sentence in jail.

Southwark Crown Court heard she stole two coats from the Burberry store in Regent Street on January 11.

But security staff took down the number plate of the car she got into after leaving the store.

A week later she stole a £360 shirt from Hermès on New Bond Street.

However, she was caught by staff and gave the shirt back before attempting to make an escape in a taxi.

Alex Agbamu, prosecuting, said: “She was intercepted because traffic was slow.

“She said upon arrest ‘I didn’t realise I took it’.”

On January 29 she struck a third time at House of Fraser in Westfield, Shepherd’s Bush, when she stole two pairs of sunglasses and Hugo Boss and Hermès perfumes.

She was stopped by security and denied taking anything from the store but a search discovered the adapted bag with the stolen goods in them.

Clarke has used 61 aliases and 34 different dates of birth since she was first before the courts in Australia back in 1989.

She has a criminal record some 50 pages long with 239 theft-related convictions and had been taking heroin and crack cocaine since she was 14 but was now apparently free from those addictions.

She admitted three counts of theft and one of going equipped for theft and was jailed for 24 weeks.