A serial shoplifter who was spared jail four times because she was a single mum has finally been locked up for stealing thousands of pounds worth of designer sunglasses.
Kayleigh Bradley, 37, was repeatedly handed suspended sentences after she complained about her difficult childhood and how she had been in and out of care from the age of 10.
However Bradley, who has 128 offences on her record, continued to prey on shopkeepers using a foil-lined bag and a small ‘detagger’ she had bought on the internet to beat the security alarms.
In her latest spree, she was caught stealing more than £4,000 worth of goods from stores at the Cheshire Oaks retail complex in Ellesmere Port over a two-month period.
This included the theft of £3,213 worth of designer sunglasses from an opticians on three separate occasions.
At Chester Crown Court, she tried to escape jail for a fifth time – again citing her childhood and saying she needed to spend more time with her 12-year-old son.
However, she was sentenced to 20 months in prison with Judge Patrick Thompson telling the court: ‘Why keep stealing if she wants to spend time with her son?
‘I am afraid the defendant thinks court orders do not exist and do not matter.
Kayleigh Bradley, 37, was repeatedly handed suspended sentences after she complained about her difficult childhood and how she had been in and out of care from the age of ten
‘This is the first time I have seen someone receive four consecutive suspended sentences.
‘I have seen people with sad and difficult backgrounds and I have got sympathy for that – but chance after chance has been given.
‘If somebody keeps stealing from shops they are going to prison whatever the problem.’
Bradley’s four suspended sentences were imposed by JPs and judges in Liverpool between September 2023 and September 2024.
But she flouted all four of them to embark on thieving sprees with a male accomplice – once again using her foil-lined bag to stop tagged goods setting off the alarms.
Prosecutor Miss Selda Krasniqi said that at 11.40am on May 26, Bradley and a male were seen entering the Cheshire Oaks car park in a black Volkswagen car.
She was then seen getting out of the vehicle carrying a number of shopping bags and entered the Cosmetic Company store.
Bradley selected a number of items with a total value of £872.25.
Ms Krasniqi said: ‘These were placed in her bag before she walked out making no attempt to pay.
‘She then placed the items in the boot of the Volkswagen vehicle. She then entered the David Clulow store, selected five pairs of designer sunglasses valued at £1,495.
‘Those items are placed in a foil-lined bag. She leaves the store, again making no attempt to pay, then returns to the car and places the bag in the boot.
At Chester Crown Court (pictured), Bradley tried to escape jail for a fifth time – again citing her childhood and saying she needed to spend more time with her 12-year-old son
‘The assistant manager of this store reviews the CCTV and identified further incidents where Miss Bradley had committed thefts.
‘On Tuesday April 1, Miss Bradley was seen to enter the store, select four pairs of sunglasses before leaving the store without making any attempt at payment.
‘Then on March 15, she selected two pairs of sunglasses before leaving without making any attempt at payment. The offending was sophisticated in the nature of planning.’
Police arrested Bradley after officers saw her and the unnamed male accomplice get out of the Volkswagen at McDonalds in Rock Ferry.
They recovered the foil-lined bag and items from David Clulow and the Cosmetic Company.
Bradley admitted four charges of theft and one of going equipped for theft. She also admitted being in breach of the four suspended sentence orders.
In mitigation, defence counsel Oliver Saddington said: ‘She is a woman who has struggled with enormous difficulties growing up.
‘She was in and out of care, passed from pillar to post and has struggled with alcohol issues throughout her life.
‘She continued stealing as she needed the money. There was the unsavoury company she was in and she owed money to these people and that is why she felt she has no choice but to steal.
‘The reason these chances have been given to her is that somebody with her difficulties needs time to rehabilitate.
‘There is a method by which the court could deal with the breaches and give this woman a chance to prove herself.’
Jailing Bradley for 20 months, the judge said: ‘Shopkeepers are trying to make a living.
‘People who are working there rely on those shops for employment so why should they have to lose £4,000?
‘She has been given a number of chances to prove herself – but all she proved herself to be, I am afraid, is a thief.’
Judge Thompson told Bradley: ‘You need to understand that people cannot afford for others to steal from them.
‘You may see stores as easy prey but the shop owners and people who work there rely on them for their families.
‘When people constantly steal from shops, eventually the shops find it difficult to operate economically.
‘It is a real problem but it is particularly serious when you are serving not one, not two, not three but four various suspended sentences.’
Bradley, who is from Fazakerly in Liverpool, has a criminal career dating back at least 12 years.
In 2013, she admitted stealing £580 worth of goods from River Island, Oasis, Warehouse and Dorothy Perkins.
She was freed with a two-month curfew after a judge ruled: ‘Everything indicates she intends to change her life.’
But over the following decade she was repeatedly brought before various courts for a string of store thefts.
