Thief with thirst for high-end alcohol pays price for Jack Daniels, Laurent Perrier Champagne and Hennessy Cognac raids

Joshua Crichton, 33, has been ordered to pay a total of £796.96 in compensation, following three thefts from two stores in May and August.

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At 1.30pm on Monday 1 May, Crichton stole £147.50 worth of alcohol from the Waitrose store in Portswood Road, Southampton.

The items stolen were one bottle of Jack Daniel’s Triple Mash, one bottle of Jack Daniel’s Single Barrell, one bottle of Woodford Reserve Bourbon and two bottles of Jack Daniel’s. For this offence, Crichton was ordered to pay £147.50 in compensation.

Then, at 4.50pm on Wednesday 16 August, Crichton entered Waitrose in Stanford Road, Lymington and stole £649.46 worth of alcohol.

On this occasion, the items stolen included Hennessy Cognac, Laurent Perrier Brut, Laurent Perrier Rose Champagne, prosecco, wine and vodka. He has been ordered to pay £649.46 in compensation for this offence.

The following day (Thursday 17 August), at 4pm, Crichton visited the same store and stole another £124 worth of alcohol, including three bottles of Bushmills Whiskey and two bottles of Kraken Spiced Rum. This was recovered soon after by store security.

Crichton, of Lymington Road, Christchurch, was sentenced at Southampton Magistrates’ Court having pleaded guilty to all three offences.

Reflecting on the court result, Sergeant Arron Wood, of the New Milton Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “This outcome was only possible because of some good work from our officers and teams.

“Our offender management team linked in with probation to identify an address for Crichton. This was an address we were previously unaware of.

“Our New Milton and Lymington officers then followed up by taking prompt action to ensure he was arrested and subsequently charged.

“As I have previously said, retail crime in Hampshire is one of the force’s current priorities and we continue to support that by robustly dealing with shoplifters. We will always deal with these matters seriously and will make all efforts to try and identify offenders if we don’t know who they are.”