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A prolific shoplifter who stole £16,000 worth of goods after he targeted a petrol station and supermarket more than 100 times has been jailed for three years. Mark Stavrou, 33, was caught on CCTV strolling around the store and brazenly helping himself to an array of goods. He then walked out the doors without paying, packed the items into a suitcase and jumped on an e-bike and sped off, dragging the haul behind him. Stavrou carried out his spree of thefts across Waltham Forest, north-east London, between January and July this year. He committed a total of 67 offences at a Sainsbury's store and a further 30 at a Morrisons petrol station, bringing the total to more than 100. On August 21, he pleaded guilty to all the shoplifting offences, as well as one count of criminal damage, assault and the theft of a bicycle at Thames Magistrates' Court. He was first arrested at the petrol station in connection with a theft and was charged with these offences in July. This then sparked an extensive investigation into a number of other thefts in the area with Stavrou as the main suspect. Through reviewing hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, officers were able to link him to more than a hundred separate shoplifting offences. However, having been granted conditional bail at Thames Magistrates' Court on July 23, Stavrou went on to commit further thefts the following day. Detective Chief Inspector Claudine Davie, from the Met Police said: 'Across London, we're relentlessly going after wanted and prolific shoplifters through intelligence-led patrols and operations in retail crime hotspots. 'Our officers are solving double the number of shoplifting cases compared to this time last year. 'Stavrou targeted these stores more than a hundred times, not only brazenly stealing thousands of pounds' worth of goods but using violence and threats towards staff. 'In some instances, Stavrou stole crates of drink while staff were restocking shelves and often filled suitcases full of items before casually leaving on an e-bike. 'This behaviour is totally unacceptable, and it's down to the relentless determination of officers that we have been able to link Stavrou to these crimes and secure a vast number of convictions.' It comes after the Met carried out the UK's largest ever targeted crackdown on organised shoplifting gangs earlier this month. Officers raided more than 120 shops suspected of buying items stolen from major retailers and reselling them at discounted prices. Hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of items were seized and 32 people were arrested. The Mail witnessed one raid in southeast London where a store appeared to be brazenly selling electronic goods stolen from a nearby Curry's just days earlier. Officers seized speakers, earphones, beauty products and suspected stolen LEGO sets from the Cash Converters in Orpington, made four arrests then later discovered luxury watches and £70,000 at a related address. At another store, officers recovered 2,000 suspected stolen mobile phones and found more than £50,000 worth of electronics in a secret compartment hidden behind a wall panel. The two-day blitz, codenamed Operation Zoridon, also saw the deployment of dogs specially trained to sniff out products marked with cutting edge synthetic DNA. Chief Inspector Rav Pathania, the Met's lead for tackling retail crime, added: 'We take shoplifting extremely seriously and are targeting those who show disregard for the law and cause fear, misery and suffering to retail workers and communities. 'By putting more officers in local teams, increasing patrols, working closely with retailers and conducting more intelligence-led operations, we are going after the most prolific offenders, and this case is a shining example of what can be achieved by taking this approach.
