Prolific shoplifter caught on CCTV stealing almost £2,000 of goods including five vacuum cleaners

Video (click to play above) shows the moment when a brazen thief walked out of a store with a stolen vacuum cleaner. Michael King, 44, of no fixed address, was captured on CCTV stealing the electrical items from a Sainsbury’s store - on five separate occasions in July.

He also stole groceries from BP and Waitrose - and in total he walked away with £1,948 of goods from businesses across Ely in Cambridgeshire.

At Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (10 September), King, was sentenced to 32 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to 11 counts of shop lifting and activating a previous suspended sentence.

PC Skye Woodhouse, who investigated, said: “King has caused misery to businesses across Ely. We hope this sentence will provide some respite to shops impacted by his offending and allow him the opportunity he needs to get support and stop shoplifting.”