Thieves stole more than £2,000 of goods from Prestatyn retail park

Rozalia-Leontina Baciu, 31, of Scribbans Close, Smethwick; Anamaria-Estera Barbu, 20, of Dorset Street, Hull; and Germania Antonescu, 30, of Merrivale Road, Smethwick, received suspended sentences yesterday (July 31).

At Llandudno Magistrates’ Court, they were each sentenced to 26 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months.

All of the defendants, who are originally from Romania, had each admitted two counts of theft on July 8.

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Prosecuting, James Neary told the court that, on July 6, four females travelled to North Wales together before stealing from the TK Maxx and Boots stores in Parc Prestatyn.

The women claimed that, at the time, they were all living at the same address in the West Midlands.

At about 6.30pm, the TK Maxx manager noticed four females enter the shop together before separating from one another.

A member of the group was then spotted by the manager trying to remove the security tag from an item of clothing.

The women were later confronted by the manager, who asked them if they had taken any stock, to which one of them replied: “I don’t speak English.”

After one of the women bought a pair of socks, the group left the store together, before driving away in a Volkswagen vehicle.

Llandudno Magistrates' Court (Image: GoogleMaps)

Police were later contacted by the TK Maxx manager, who told officers the registration number of the vehicle the women drove off in.

At about 8pm that night, the vehicle was seen on the M56 in Cheshire; four females were on board, with Baciu driving.

All four were detained, and within the vehicle, police found 13 large bags of items including clothes, cosmetics, perfumes and pharmaceutical products, still with security labels attached.

Officers sorted items that they could identify, and found clothing to the value of £77.95 from TK Maxx, and goods worth £1,970.30 from Boots.

Indeed, when police recovered closed circuit television from Boots in Parc Prestatyn, it showed four females entering the shop, taking items and appearing to place them inside their skirts.

Police also found pockets underneath the women’s skirts after their clothing was seized.

The women were questioned by officers, but did not disclose why they travelled to Prestatyn to steal the goods.

Mr Neary labelled it a “sophisticated” theft with “significant” planning.

He added: “Police, for whatever reason, decided to bail one of the four out; that’s why you have only three before the court.

“It’s inconceivable that this was nobody’s idea.”

The recovered stolen property was returned to TK Maxx and Boots.

Antonescu, a mother-of-three, has “very recently” moved into her mother’s address on Merrivale Road, the court heard.

She told the probation service that, on the day of the thefts, she left home intending to look for “better work”, but could not explain how she ended up in Prestatyn.

Barbu, a mother-of-two, came to the UK with her partner of seven years in 2022, and is now living with her family at her partner’s mother’s home in Hull.

The probation service was told by Barbu that they had planned a “girls’ day out” on the day of the thefts.

She is liable to removed from the UK, having entered the country for a six-month period which has now ended.

Baciu has been in the UK “on and off for about six years”, and has one child with her partner.

The court heard she has the right to remain in the UK until July 2025, but has applied to settle in the country longer-term.

All defendants were deemed as being at low risk of re-conviction and of causing serious harm.

They all claimed the stolen items were for personal use, rather than to be sold on for financial gain.

None of them had any previous convictions, though Antonescu and Baciu had one caution each for shoplifting.

They all claim Universal Credit, which is Barbu’s sole source of income, while Antonescu and Baciu work part-time as a cleaner and warehouse operative respectively.

Sentencing, magistrates ordered each defendant to also pay a £154 surcharge, and costs to the Crown Prosecution Service of £85.

Magistrates told them: “This was a pre-planned expedition theft. It was sophisticated and organised."