Shoplifter caught at Outlet store

Denise McNeill, Lady Wallace Court, Lisburn, admitted the theft of the jacket belonging to Jaegar on November 8 this year.

She was fined £250 last Thursday at Banbridge Magistrates Court and ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy.

The court heard that police received a complaint from a store at the Outlet Centre about a female shoplifter who had taken a jacket.

She was seen on CCTV leaving the store and making her way to her vehicle.

In the store she was seen taking three jackets into the fitting rooms but returned only two of them after she came out.

The vehicle was owned by the defendant and when contacted by police she asked if it was in relation to an item of clothing.

She brought the jacket to police and made a full and frank admission. The item was fit for re-sale.

A barrister representing McNeill said she took the matter very seriously and would apologise to the court.

District Judge, Mr Paul Copeland, told the defendant she had set out from Lisburn to the Outlet to steal an item she had selected.

“This must stop now,” said Judge Copeland who warned her that the next time she could lose her car if it was used in the course of a theft.