A prolific shop thief who stole more than £13,000 after targeting unattended cash tills at stores throughout Kent has been jailed.
Bradley Pogmore from Essex was responsible for an eight-month crime spree which extended throughout the home counties and into London.
Between September 2021 and April 2022, Pogmore, pictured above, used tools to crack open empty checkouts at unstaffed areas of retailers including Next, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
He would hide from employees by crouching next to the tills, before stealing hundreds of pounds at a time.
Pogmore entered the shops either alone or with an accomplice, in areas including Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Gillingham, Maidstone and Broadstairs.
Businesses beyond Kent were also targeted – in Hertfordshire, Essex, Oxford and central London.
Distractions to steal
Distraction techniques were sometimes employed to divert the attention of staff.
It was reported in December 2021, Pogmore entered a Co-op in Essex and stole £750 after an associate pretended to have a fit. (This particular allegation was later not proceeded with in court).
In January 2022, he stole from Wickes in Sevenoaks after an accomplice held up a large piece of corrugated plastic to obscure the view of workers, while he forced open a till.
Pogmore, from Dagenham was arrested on 13 April 2022.
An investigation forensically linked him to four of the crime scenes, including DNA from a dropped hat, and evidence retrieved from a jacket seized by an Asda security guard during efforts to apprehend him in Chelmsford.
Imprisoned
The 40-year-old pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to conspiracy to commit burglary, as well as a raft of separate burglary offences. He also admitted breaching a criminal behaviour order.
On Tuesday 23 May 2023, Pogmore was sentenced to two years and nine months’ imprisonment.
DC Emma Laimbeer of the Kent Crime Squad said: ‘Pogmore has a lengthy criminal history and has indiscriminately targeted businesses far and wide, during a relentless crime spree.
‘Ultimately the actions of offenders like him can have a drastic effect on businesses, which often have little choice but to pass on the cost of thefts to law abiding customers.
‘Pogmore’s latest convictions are in connection with at least 24 burglary offences, and a custodial sentence will reassure retailers that his prolific offending has not gone unpunished.’