A woman dubbed the “langoustine lifter” after stealing £200 worth of shellfish from outside a west London restaurant has avoided jail.
Ekaterina Frolova, 46, was fined a total of £350 following her conviction last month.
CCTV footage posted online showed Frolova grabbing a box of langoustines that had been delivered and left outside high-end Elystan Street restaurant in Chelsea.
She appeared to be dressed in jeans and slippers when she swiped the food intended for lunch service.
Other videos emerged of similar incidents in the area, including a theft at the nearby florist Petals at Bibendum.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court on January 5, Frolova also admitted two thefts from Zen Pharmacy in Beauchamp Place over a period of six days and burglary.
The defendant, of Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge, was remanded in custody and later sentenced, the Metropolitan Police said.
The original Elystan Street footage was shared online by furious chef Phil Howard, who raged on Instagram in November: “Caught stealing our precious langoustines this morning – you low-life scum bag.
“Hope you rot in hell with your other hard working mates.”
Becky McLaughlin, general manager at Elystan Street, told BBC News shortly after the crime: “It’s just somebody that is clearly trying their luck and doesn’t really realise the impact something small to them has on an independent restaurant.
“There’s a massive domino effect and it's a cost that now just has to be swallowed.”
Speaking previously, Max Cansdale, who has co-owned Petals at Bibendum for five years, said the impact of theft was hitting his business hard.
He said: “All that can be done for small businesses that face this shoplifting epidemic is to put preventative measures in place.
“All of our products are now secured with fishing wire so if you pick something up and run off with it as an opportunist, that won’t work because you won’t be able to tug on it, you’ll be stuck and then a staff member will confront you.
“We’ve got a security guard, and at night my team spend a lot more time packing away the whole shop completely away from the gate. Even if you had a two-metre broom pushed through the gate, you wouldn’t hook anything. It’s a lot more work for the team, we have team members that come in half an hour earlier to open up, they work later so that they can pack away.”
