A supermarket thief has been ordered not to enter any branch of supermarket ASDA after he was caught over a £4,001 plastic bag scam.
Kenneth Hollis, 43, targeted five supermarkets across the West Midlands, including in Birmingham, Dudley and Tipton, using the self-checkouts but only scanning plastic bags. He then loaded his goods into the bags and left the stores.
Hollis, who lives at Vicarage Prospect, Dudley, couldn’t hold back his tears at Birmingham Magistrates' Court as he pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud by false representation, reports BirminghamLive.
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One of the charges against him read: "At the checkout you scanned plastic bags only and clicked finish and pay, bypassing the weighing scales.
"You then loaded the goods into the carrier bags before paying for the carrier bags only with a debit card before leaving the store without offering payment for the goods selected."
The incidents took place between October 1 and February 8, with a number of high value thefts recorded in the court documents.
In total, fraudster Hollis stole £322 worth of goods from a Dudley store, £1,186 of items from a Birmingham branch, £893 of products from the supermarket in Tipton, £795 worth from Oldbury and £805 of goods from the Halesowen branch.
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He also confessed to committing an additional offence of driving a Citroen Xsara without insurance on Queensway Halesowen.
At a recent hearing on Tuesday, March 1, the full facts of the prosecution case were not opened against him as District Judge Shaw ruled to adjourn the case so that Hollis could be interviewed by the probation service.
He told the defendant: "This is a pattern of extremely serious offending because of the high value. Certainly if it's me (sentencing at the next hearing) I will be considering custody and of some length.
"Working against that you have not been in trouble for 12 years. I want a report to know what's going on and what's led to all this."
As a result of his thefts, Hollis has been released on bail, along with a strict condition that he steer clear of entering any ASDA store. The judge added: "Keep out of all ASDA stores. If you are stupid or foolish enough to offend on bail it will only aggravate your position."
The case was adjourned to a date in April.
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