Mum conned £500k from shops by taking items from shelves and asking for refund

A prolific "industrial" shoplifter made over £500,000 and a "full-time career" from simply taking items from the shelves and asking staff for a refund.

A court was told that Narinder Kaur "shoplifted on an industrial scale", travelling across the UK to do so.

Kaur, 53, who is also known as Nina Tiara, hit shops more than 1,000 times over a period of four years and is now facing prison time, the CPS said.

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Giovanni D’Alessandro, senior Crown prosecutor at CPS West Midlands, said: "Kaur undertook fraud on a long-standing and wide-ranging manner. It was a very lucrative full-time job, which demonstrably made her over half a million pounds over this period of offending.

"She went to extraordinary lengths to carry out her deceptions, seeking to find a way of defrauding a retailer and then travelling all over the country to replicate the fraud.

"She also changed her name legally and opened new bank accounts and credit cards in a second identity to avoid detection. She now righty faces a significant sentence for her crimes and the prosecution will look to recoup as many of her ill-gotten gains as the law allows."

Kaur, of Cleverton, Wiltshire, was convicted by jurors of a total of 26 counts including fraud, possessing and transferring criminal property and perverting the course of justice.

She was convicted on March 10 following a four-month trial at Gloucester Crown Court and has been remanded in custody ahead of sentencing. She faces jail time.

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An investigation found she visited Boots stores across the UK. She received £60,787.09 in refunds from Boots despite only spending £5,172.73 at its stores.

Kaur was handed £42,853.65 in refunds from Debenhams despite spending only £3,681.33. She also defrauded John Lewis at various stores, receiving £33,131.61 in refunds but only spending £5,290.36.

The court heard how Kaur visited Monsoon stores and claimed £23,000 more in refunds than in payments made for purchases. She went on to target House of Fraser stores, spending £2,853.55 but claiming £23,147.75 in refunds.

Fraudster Kaur defrauded a series of Homesense stores. There, she spent just £1,181.45 but claimed £19,540.17 in refunds.

TK Maxx was defrauded of £14,563.53, while she cheated Homebase out of £3,238.47, the CPS said. Kaur's offending also saw her defraud Wiltshire Council of £7,400.

About £150,000 in cash was found hidden in her home, along with stolen goods, when police scoured it for evidence.

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