This is the moment a pensioner on a mobility scooter stole more than £250 worth of steaks from a Co-op before speeding off.
Prolific shoplifter Malcolm Ravenhill, 63, was caught on camera stealing the meat just days after he was given a second chance by magistrates for committing a similar offence.
CCTV showed Ravenhill parking up next to a meat fridge at a Co-op in Orton Goldhay, Peterborough and stuffing steaks into the rear of his silver and black electric scooter before leaving the shop.
Ravenhill seemed undeterred by other customers when he committed the heist on the morning of September 2.
His brazen theft came just six days after he was handed a suspended sentence – intended to warn offenders and give them a second chance to stay out of trouble – at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court.
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There, he admitted eight other counts of theft from a shop.
Ravenhill was tracked down and identified thanks to the shop’s CCTV footage and arrested at his home in Dogsthorpe Road, Peterborough.
He was jailed for a year last week at the same court he had been given a warning at, after admitting the one new count of theft.
PC Sam Malton, from the Spree Offender Team, said: ‘Ravenhill is a prolific offender who clearly didn’t learn his lesson having been given a suspended sentence less than a week before this offence.
‘He clearly gave no thought to the impact his actions were having on others as he continued to offend.
‘I’m pleased he was identified again and has now been jailed for his actions.’
There were 530,643 reported shoplifting offences in the year to March, a 20% increase on 2024, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The rising cost of living has been widely cited as the key reason fuelling the surge in retail crime, with research showing a link between deprivation and the hardest-hit areas nationally.
Counter-measures taken by retailers include replacing products on shelves with dummy products or label tags, investing in better CCTV, hiring security guards and body cameras for staff.
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