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Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White’s son has been jailed for three years and five months for a £60,000 burglary and shoplifting spree to fund his drug habit. Marco Pierre White Jr, 30, smashed his way into an exclusive West London gallery for rare minerals, rocks and diamonds, causing £27,000 of damage to the premises and items on display before stealing two fluorite crystal lamp towers worth £13,600. He stole sought-after Jellycat toys worth £1,500 from a gift store on Barnes High Street, and took £7775-worth of natural rock crystal formations during a break-in at a Notting Hill shop. Isleworth crown court heard on Thursday that Pierre White Jr often had a Lime Bike waiting nearby to make his getaway after the burglaries. He admitted threatening a female worker at Aesop in Westbourne Grove that he would “hurt her” if she got in his way while he was shoplifting £1331 of hygiene products. Pierre White, a former Big Brother contestant, appeared in court over a prison videolink, having previously admitted a series of offences from earlier this year. But when the judge adjourned to consider the sentence, Pierre White told prison guards that he did not want to wait and returned to his cell. He was absent as the jail term was imposed. On June 12, he broke into an Italian Deli in Kensington, stealing a laptop, an iPad, and a till tray, causing more than £4000 in loss to the business. He stole Jellycats from a Waterstones in Chiswick after strolling into the store just before it closed, and fled on a waiting Lime bike. He also confessed to using a brick to smash through a glass door to steal the Jellycats from an independent gift shop called Presents on July 21. Prosecutor Chris Harper said Pierre White “was found at 2.30am by police dogs in an alleyway, where he attempted to thrown them off the scent by saying he had seen people running past.” The court heard Pierre White had booked an Uber as a getaway vehicle, but the driver called the police instead. Pierre White was also sentenced for an April 2 raid on a Mercy in Action charity shop, stealing £535 in cash from the safe. He was spotted climbing out of a broken shop window at the shop. He was also tied to a break-in at another shop the previous day, when he had left blood behind at the scene. Sentencing him, Judge Edward Connell said Pierre White “is accurately described as prolific acquisitive offender”. He also activated 25 weeks of suspended sentences which Pierre White breached when committing his latest offences, to be served on top of the three years and five months jail term. Pierre White’s barrister, Sean Sullivan, said the offences stem from his “long-standing drug addiction”, and came after the treatment centre he was receiving support from suddenly closed down. “He has to steal to obtain funds to maintain his habit”, he said. Pierre White’s father is an acclaimed chef and the youngest person ever to attain three Michelin stars. He has spoken in the past about his son’s battles with drugs, and the family’s efforts to help him to be clean and stay away from crime. Pierre White has 35 convictions for 69 offences on his record, including spending £2,500 on his ex-girlfriend's bank card without permission, racially abused a police officer, and a string of other thefts. The Aesop worker who was threatened by Pierre White told the court she was left feeling “hopeless” and has lost her confidence. “She didn’t want to work alone after the incident”, said Mr Harper. “It made her scared, especially when she was threatened.” Bosses at Dale Rogers Ammonite, the exclusive gallery and shop on Pimlico Road which was broken into on June 19, told the court the “devastating” raid had cost them £44,000, including travelling the world to replace the lost and damaged items. The business sources rare and “museum quality” minerals, rocks, and fossils from around the world. The court heard Pierre White damages five of the display items during the course of the break-in, as well as stealing the two fluoride towers. Judge Connell will consider imposing a criminal behaviour order on Pierre White at a later date.
