Two Polish shoplifters who repeatedly flew into British airports purely to steal duty free perfumes have been jailed.
Pawel Lenard, 35, and Magdalena Rezler, 34, used cheap Ryanair flights to visit Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow before returning to Poland.
The pair, along with suitcases brought only to stash stolen goods, visited the World Duty Free store at Bristol Airport while waiting for connecting flights. CCTV caught married father Lenard and mother Rezler, pulling dozens of boxes of luxury perfumes such as Chanel into baskets. They then walked to the store's confectionery area and transferred the boxes, worth £4,588.60 in total, into their luggage.
Bristol Crown Court heard that on the second occasion, police – acting on a tip-off from a passenger – arrested the pair as they waited to board their next flight.
Officers discovered 40 boxes of perfume, worth £2,638.40, in their suitcases. Both later admitted two counts of theft.
Recorder David Evans told the pair, from the Polish town of Krzyz Wielkopolski, he wished to ban them from Britain but could not.
The judge sentenced both to two months in prison but acknowledged they had already spent a month in custody after being arrested – and would probably be released instantly.
The court was told Lenard and Rezler booked cheap flights from Poland to British airports in July, August, September, October and December of last year. The pair flew between Poland, Bristol and either Glasgow or Edinburgh before returning to Poland. Police said it had been an audacious shoplifting attempt.
Source