Police fury as serial thief who stole £2,000 of drinks from Greggs avoids jail

Police have hit out after a prolific shoplifter who stole £2,000 worth of soft drinks from a Greggs store in south London avoided jail today despite pleading guilty to 80 offences.

Tiffany O’Neill, 28, was handed a 26-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, following a relentless spate of offending.

The serial shoplifter has been arrested, charged and remanded to court 11 times since May this year, with police repeatedly hauling her before magistrates as she continued to target the same Greggs branch in Brixton.

She was ultimately charged with 69 theft offences before pleading guilty to a total of 80 offences at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

But despite her record of offending, O’Neill has escaped an immediate spell behind bars.

New sentencing restrictions introduced earlier this year mean magistrates and judges must suspend prison sentences of less than a year unless specific exceptions apply.

The outcome has sparked frustration at Scotland Yard, where officers spent more than 120 hours dealing with O’Neill's case, including preparing prosecution files, making further arrests and attending repeated court hearings.

Tiffany O'Neill was handed a suspended sentence at Croydon Magistrates' Court

Met Police

The Metropolitan Police has now called for the criminal justice system to do more to hold prolific offenders to account and stop them repeatedly targeting businesses and communities.

O’Neill was granted bail at all but one of her court appearances in recent months, despite repeatedly breaching her bail conditions and returning to the same Greggs store on Electric Avenue in Brixton.

She was initially banned from entering the London Borough of Lambeth and ordered to wear a GPS tag as a condition of her bail.

Police say previous sentencing hearings had to be adjourned after O’Neill failed to turn up, forcing police officers to track her down and arrest her again.

A fourth hearing was then delayed earlier this week because of technical problems at the court.

The repeated setbacks piled further pressure on officers already dealing with the case and swallowed up police and court time.

As part of her sentence, O’Neill was also handed a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order banning her from Brixton town centre and every Greggs store in the UK.

But the decision to spare her jail time has left police questioning whether the justice system is doing enough to stop persistent offenders from returning to the streets.

Sergeant Chris Wilkinson, who led the investigation, said: “Our officers worked relentlessly over several months to build the evidence needed to bring this prolific offender before the courts.

“Despite multiple arrests and repeated offences, we remained focused on securing a positive outcome for our community. Her persistent offending caused repeated distress to staff, harmed the business and placed a significant demand on police resources.

Footage shows Tiffany returning to the Greggs in Brixton

Met Police

“We recognise that courts are obliged to follow the guidelines on suspending sentences, but it’s obviously a disappointment that someone who we know has reoffended so frequently is now back out in the community.

“We hope this marks a change in her offending, but if it doesn’t we will be there to intervene and put her back before the courts.”

Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: “A small number of prolific offenders continue to be responsible for the majority of crime and harm in our communities. We are increasingly arresting the same people again and again when they ignored bail or license conditions, not complied with their electronic tags, or in many cases all of the above. The cumulative impact on retailers and their staff is enormous.

“Our focus has to be on putting suspects before the courts. We need the CPS, courts, prisons and probation to work with us to break the cycle of continued release and re-offending. While we have made significant progress in tackling shoplifting, cases like this show why greater focus on prolific offenders remains essential and how police alone cannot fix this.”

Roisin Currie CBE, Chief Executive of Greggs, said: “The safety and wellbeing of our colleagues and customers is always our priority, and persistent incidents of theft can have a real impact on those in our shops. We are grateful to the Metropolitan Police for their continued work with retailers, including Greggs, to tackle repeat offending.

“Retail crime is an industry-wide issue and we continue to strengthen our approach, including the rollout of Auror technology across all of our shops, investment in CCTV and trials of a new shop format in a small number of locations exposed to higher levels of anti-social behaviour. We also work closely with law enforcement and industry partners to share intelligence, helping us to better prevent and respond to these incidents and maintain safe, welcoming environments for our colleagues and customers.

“We support efforts to apprehend repeat offenders, and we welcome calls for meaningful consequences for those who repeatedly target retailers. Importantly, we would like to see a renewed focus on positive interventions and services that prevent reoffending.”