A PROLIFIC shoplifter who persistently targeted two Southend garage shops has been banned from all BP garages and Co-op stores in the county for five years and jailed.
Over nine days in March, Lloyd Miller, 33, stole a smorgasbord of food and drink, valued at around £3,000, on 28 occasions from the BP petrol stations in West Street and London Road, Southend.
But he was stopped in his tracks by an officer from Southend Local Policing Team who arrested him after he left the London Road garage with £73.80 of food and drink, including two salmon fillets and a sirloin steak.
Now Miller has been jailed for a total of two years and three months for the shop thefts and breaching a previous banning order on each occasion.
Sergeant Steve Wells, of Southend Neighbourhood Policing Team, says: “We have a good rapport with our local businesses and retail community and work closely with them on a range of issues.
“We encourage them to report shop thefts to us. This, together with good quality CCTV footage and witness statements, helps us to secure convictions at court, as we did in this case.
“Miller is a prolific offender who has now been taken off our streets for a significant period of time. His behaviour has had a detrimental effect on staff and customers at the stores he targeted but I hope they are reassured by his jail sentence and the shops ban.”
Basildon Crown Court was told that Miller, of no fixed address, had previously admitted 28 counts of shop theft at the two BP garages and, thus, 28 breaches of a criminal behaviour order (CBO) imposed by the same court in June 2024. He also admitted a charge of burglary and breaching a suspended jail sentence.
As well as fish and meat, Miller also stole toiletries, cheese, chocolate, bottles of alcohol and tinned cocktails. He targeted the shops up to six times a day.
He was arrested after he left the London Road garage on 23 March, following a short chase on foot.
The court extended the term of Miller’s CBO until 11 September 2030. It means he his banned from entering every BP garage and Co-op store in Essex, plus The Range in London Road, Southend, and the One Stop in Spa Road, Hockley, during that time.
Sergeant Wells says ignoring any of the conditions set out in a CBO is a criminal offence and an offender can be fined or jailed by the courts if they do so.
In the past two years, our officers have made 481 arrests for shop theft across Southend. They’ve also solved 76% more offences in the district during the same period.
Sergeant Wells says this is partly due to increased reporting of offences and excellent joined-up working with many of our local businesses. There’s another benefit from this, too.
“Reporting shop thefts also enables us to identify crime trends which means we can target our operational resources effectively. This includes working with retailers and the force’s Business Crime Team on a range of crime prevention measures,” he explains.
