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 reoffend, it is almost certain that the custodial sentence will be activated and you will go to prison.” Crewe Magistrates' Court was told Dinu was arrested when a shopper flagged her to a security guard. Alex Farrow, prosecuting, said: “He did a check of the shop floor and noticed a male and female.
The male had a hand basket filled with goods which he believed was going to be passed to the female. "The couple have dropped the basket in the shop when they realised that they had been spotted by security and the guard managed to detain the female, that being the defendant. “The guard recognised the male and female as being responsible for two previous identical thefts which had already been reported to police.
''He checked the CCTV for the previous incidents and confirmed it to be the same male and female - the previous incidents being from April 26 of this year, when the defendant stole £200 worth of clothing, and from May 21 when the defendant stole £300 worth of razors and pet products. "None of those goods have been recovered.'' The court heard Dinu has six previous shoplifting offences on her record from 2021 to 2024.
She was sentenced last June to a 12 month community order with rehabilitation activity days and unpaid work. Dinu was then conditionally discharged for three years after stealing home and beauty products from a Morrisons store. In mitigation, Dinu's lawyer Trevor Feehily said the single mum-of-three is "effectively" a carer for her eldest child after she was diagnosed with cancer.
As well as a suspended sentence, she was ordered to pay £500 in compensation for the goods stolen from Sainsbury's..
