A woman who made over half a million pounds by shoplifting and claiming refunds on stolen goods across England and Wales has been jailed for 10 years. Narinder Kaur, 54, from Cleverton, Wiltshire, conducted more than 1,000 raids on high street stores over four years, police said.
Officers found £150,000 in cash and stolen items at her home. Kaur used 17 aliases and was convicted of 26 counts of fraud, money laundering, and perverting the course of justice. Judge Lawrie at Gloucester Crown Court described her as a “thoroughly dishonest individual” and her operation as fraud on an “Olympian scale”.
Between July 2015 and September 2019, Kaur stole from stores such as Boots, House of Fraser, Monsoon, and Homebase in cities including Cardiff, Oxford, Winchester, Exeter, and Bath. She also attempted to defraud Wiltshire Council of £7,400 using stolen credit cards.
Kaur continued offending while under investigation and on bail. She was arrested in October 2020 and again in May 2021 for trying to return stolen items. Detective Inspector Tom Straker said she “carried out crime as her profession”, travelling the country as a professional shoplifter.
