Northampton shoplifter jailed again, weeks after getting spared

A serial shoplifter has been jailed after stealing just six weeks after he was spared prison so he could attend a rehabilitation programme.

According to local reports, Paul Poyser, aged 48, was given 17 sentences totaling 52 weeks in February this year for stealing goods including coffee, cheese and chocolate from stores where he was banned under a court order since 2019.

Magistrates suspended the punishments for two years and ordered Poyser to attend a rehabilitation programme.

But six weeks later, on March 20, he was back at the Co-op in Olden Road, Rectory Farm, stealing more meat, stated reports. He appeared at Northampton Magistrates Court again on Thursday (12) where he also pleaded guilty to taking Lenor fabric conditioner worth £80 from the same Co-op on May 5 and Yankee Candles worth £80 from Poundland in Weston Favell Shopping Centre in July.

This time he was sentenced to 52 weeks hanging over him from February — plus two more for his latest offences.

Poyser had previously targeted three Co-op stores, a Nisa convenience store in Goldings, Tesco and Boots between March and November 2021.

Latest figures showed more than 3,000 shoplifting crimes were reported in Northamptonshire in 2021-22, accounting for around four percent of all recorded offences.