Sutton Coldfield supermarket shoplifter Karl Bamford jailed

A career thief has been jailed for over six months after causing misery for staff and customers at a Sutton Coldfield supermarket.

Karl Bamford targeted the store on Birmingham Road ten times throughout October - stealing a range of items including meat, confectionery and alcohol. CCTV of the thefts were forwarded to neighbourhood policing officers who recognised the 51-year-old.

He was arrested on November 7 and appeared before Birmingham Magistrates Court last week where he pleaded guilty to the thefts and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.

Sergeant Neal Marsh, from the local Sutton Coldfield policing team, said: "Bamford clearly thought that he could steal as much as he wanted, as many times as he wanted. From the items and the quantities he stole it's apparent that he wasn't stealing the items for his own consumption.

"We have been working closely with the loss prevention team at the supermarket and this issue has been raised in local community meetings by residents. We work with our partners, the community and businesses around reducing business crime offences like shoplifting.

"This is not a victimless crime, we work with and support staff who have to deal with and are affected by these offences. Our businesses have asked us to work with them to help reduce this type of offending and we hope the conviction of a prolific shoplifter shows that we are committed to reducing this type of offence.”