A serial thief who made it her “full-time” job to commit £500,000 worth of fraud against high street retailers has been jailed for 10 years.
Narinder Kaur, 54, from Cleverton, Wiltshire, traveled across the country to trick well-known retailers such as Debenhams, John Lewis, House of Fraser and TK Maxx into reimbursing her for items she had stolen.
The biggest fraud was committed against Boots, where Kaur received £60,787 in refunds from seven UK stores from July 2015 to February 2019, despite only spending £5,172 with the retailer during the same period.
She also received £42,853 in refunds from Debenhams – having spent just £3,681 over a four-year period – and £33,131 in refunds from John Lewis stores, including in Milton Keynes, Watford, Chester and Nottingham, having spent just £5,290 between August 2015 and December 2018.
She also visited several Monsoon stores in the West Midlands, South Wales and Thames Valley, where she claimed £23,000 more in refunds than in payments to the stores.
Homesense was also defrauded of £18,000, TK Maxx of around £14,500 and Homebase of £3,200.
A ‘tsunami of dishonesty’
Sentencing Kaur at Gloucester Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Ian Lawrie KC said her crimes were “stubbornly persistent and on an almost Olympic scale”.
“You indulged in a veritable tsunami of dishonesty and deception on a diverse range of victims,” the judge said.
“It appears that there was no limit to his offence, and everything was conducted with resolute persistence, free from restraint or inhibition.
Photo: West Mercia Police/PA
“The scale of the infringement was almost industrial. The overall value of the infringement was assessed at £500,000.”
The court heard that Kaur was seen on CCTV entering stores, taking items from shelves and taking them to the tills as if they had been previously purchased.
Gareth Weetman, prosecuting, alleged that Kaur relied on the goodwill of cashiers or store managers, telling them sob stories about sick relatives to commit her crimes.
Kaur at the checkout in an M&S store. Photo: West Mercia Police/PA
During two police searches of his home, around £150,000 in cash was found hidden, as well as stolen goods.
Kaur was previously convicted by a jury of 26 charges, including fraud, possession and transfer of criminal property and perverting the course of justice.
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It also emerged that she had previously lied to a magistrates court, presenting false documents to avoid being convicted of speeding offences, and to a crown court in an attempt to relax her bail conditions.
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