A thief who allegedly funded a life of luxury by shoplifting goods ranging from bottles of brandy to packets of razor blades over more than 25 years faces having thousands of dollars in property confiscated, it emerged on Monday.
Police in the UK believe Raymond Crockford's prolific shoplifting enabled him to enjoy the lifestyle of a millionaire.
He lived in an expensive seaside home, had two Mercedes and a BMW, and would jet off to the Caribbean.
When police raided his home near Weymouth, southwest England, they found a "treasure trove" of stolen goods including "wholesale" quantities of alcohol and smaller amounts of items such as sheets, bottles of perfume and coffee.
Officers were amazed not only by the items Crockford, 62, stole but also the lifestyle he could afford allegedly by selling the loot. He had 80 suits in his wardrobe, expensive furniture, a 50-inch plasma screen television and a landscaped garden behind the electric gates to his home. Police found thousands of pounds in Crockford's house and much more in his bank account.
At an earlier hearing a jury at Dorchester crown court found Crockford, a scaffolder, guilty of four charges of converting criminal property, one of attempted theft and one of possessing criminal property.
The court heard that his shoplifting went back to 1980 and he had committed more than 300 offences. He has also served a prison sentence for theft.
Crockford said he had a shoplifting addiction and was getting therapy for it.
"I steal when I get stressed or don't feel myself or to cope with depression. I just go into a shop and steal things and it makes me feel better. It could be anything, it's easy access. The first thing you see in the shop, for example. It could be bedsheets, razor blades, it could be coffee," he said.
David Bartlett, prosecuting, said that Crockford had got rid of his "dirty money" by turning it into goods and services.
After Crockford's conviction Detective Constable Ian Carlton, of Dorset police's economic crime unit, said: "His outgoings just did not match his incomings. Scaffolders do well, but not as well as he has done."
Crockford denied that he made his money from shoplifting, putting it down to property investment in Spain, a divorce settlement and a payout for an accident.
He has been told he faces jail and the court is considering confiscating ill-gotten goods. Investigators have examined his finances back to 1991 to try to find out how much he has made from his crime spree. But Crockford on Monday asked for sentencing to be put off while investigators went even further back, to show that his money was earned honestly.
The scale of Crockford's operation was uncovered when he was arrested for trying to steal three bottles of brandy.
Sentencing is due to take place in May.
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