A "PROFESSIONAL" shoplifter who swiped goods worth thousands in a 100-mile crime spree before jetting off on a posh Paris trip has swerved jail. Manuela Dinu, 36, targeted supermarkets across Northamptonshire, Cheshire and Leicestershire with two accomplices. The serial thief would be handed a basket of stolen goods by one of the men while the other acted as a look-out.
She would then leave the store laden with various items - including food and clothing. Dinu's crime spree was brought to an end when a Sainsbury's worker caught her as she was about to leave with stolen groceries. He recognised the mum from a previous shoplifting incident where she nabbed £200 worth of clothing and £300 worth of razors.
At the time, Dinu, who lives in Northampton but is originally from Romania , was on two court orders and owed £3,577. Despite, this she flaunted pictures from a luxury trip to Paris with her children. Dinu has now been spared jail after admitting two charges of theft was given and was instead handed a suspended sentence.
She claimed her 15-year-old daughter was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer and she was ''struggling'' financially. JP John Bache told her: “Miss Dinu, these are serious offences and they are made more serious by the fact that they are recurrent and committed while you were under two court orders. “We feel that these offences have passed the custody threshold - however, we are suspending that because you need to take care of your daughter.
"If you reoffe.