TWO serial shoplifters who terrorised town stores by stealing hundreds of pounds worth of alchohol, including champagne, have been locked up for repeat offending.

Gareth Worth and Melanie Grant, both of 35, Newland Way, Wyesham, Monmouth, were in breach of a conditional discharge and a suspended jail term respectively.

Gwent magistrates heard that Worth, aged 30, was also in breach of a criminal behaviour order banning him from various stores, including Marks & Spencer’s high street shop in Monmouth, where he stole drink valued at £248 on Wednesday, September 21.

The same day, he also pilfered £30 worth of confectionery from the Overmonnow Garage in breach of the ban, and was also spotted in Waitrose, where he was similarly banned.

The next day, he returned to M&S and was caught shoplifting goods worth £50.

Police later discovered that he had also contravened the order by going to M&S and Waitrose on the Tuesday of that week.

The court heard that he was in breach of a 12-month conditional discharge imposed in July after stealing perfume valued at £189 from the town’s Wells Pharmacy the previous November.

He had previously been convicted in 2020 after admitting stealing alcohol worth £235 from Waitrose in Abergavenny.

Worth admitted charges of theft and breaching a criminal behaviour order, and was jailed for 52 weeks and ordered to pay £515 in compensation and other court charges.

Magistrates said they were locking him up because the offences were “so serious, the defendant has a flagrant disregard for court orders, the offences were committed whilst subject to post sentence supervision and in breach of a conditional discharge, and the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s record of previous offending”.

Grant, 36, was jailed for 28 weeks after magistrates were told she and a another person had stolen alcohol worth £1,236 from Cwmbran’s Sainsbury’s store on July 26 and July 28, both in breach of a suspended jail term imposed on May 24 for five other offences of shoplifting, plus drug possession and banned driving.

The £494 worth of drink stolen the second time was recovered, while the £742 worth taken two days earlier was not.

The court was told she had previously been sentenced for stealing alcohol worth £279 from Monmouth’s Waitrose store on January 20, steak and other items from the town’s M&S on April 11, and champagne worth £92 from the same shop, coffee and washing tablets worth £100 from Overmonnow Garage, and steak worth £100 again from M&S between April 29 to May 4,

She was also convicted of possessing heroin on April 12 and driving while banned on Monmouth’s New Monnow Bridge on April 19.

Grant was also ordered to pay compensation of £371 to Sainsbury’s.