FOUR mothers have been jailed for a total of five years after using specially adapted skirts to steal thousands of pounds of perfume from a Hampshire store.

The women wore skirts lined with special pockets during the theft from Boots in Eastleigh’s Swan Centre.

One of the four distracted a staff member while the other three stole £4,500 worth of fragrances.

In a bid to cover their tracks, the women took perfume worth £1,600 to the checkout but then said they had no money and left.

 

(JAILED: Carmen Stoica)

Suspicious security guards tracked the quartet on TV as they left the centre and headed to their car.

The car was stopped by police, who searched the women and found the stolen goods – which the women claimed had been stolen to be given as presents for their families.

Olga Mihai, 45, Reica Petre, 40, Carmen Stoica, 41, and Cintariata Veriga, 35, all from London, were jailed for a total of five years and three months at Southampton Crown Court.

The court heard how the four mothers, who have 25 children between them, travelled to Eastleigh on December 16.

Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley told the court the foursome were seen entering Boots around 1pm.

 

She said: “They asked for a shop assistant and they asked them to open the glass cabinet which contained the perfume.

“While the staff member was distracted the ladies placed the perfume in both bags and in their skirts which had been specially adapted with a lining.”

The goods were returned to Boots, but the company said it could not return the perfume to the shelves due to its policy of not reselling perfume once it had left the store.

Ms Linsley added that all four women had previous convictions, mostly theft-related, with Veriga having 19 convictions.

 

(JAILED: Cintariata Veriga)

In mitigation, Charlotte Bellamy said all four were mothers, with Stoica, Petre and Veriga having seven children each and Mihai, four children and two grandchildren.

Miss Bellamy said the women who had been held in prison since their arrest, had missed Christmas and New Year with their families.

 

(JAILED: Olga Mihai)

She said jailing the four further would impact upon the families of the women.

Miss Bellamy added that the foursome were visiting a friend in Eastleigh and had not entered the town solely to steal.

But that was rejected by Judge Nicholas Rowland, who described the claims as “manifestly false and wholly inaccurate”.

The judge also rejected Miss Bellamy’s request to hand down suspended sentences for the four women, who each pleaded guilty to one count of theft.

He said: “These four women came together from London or that area with the intention of stealing in Eastleigh.

 

(JAILED: Reica Petre)

“They with came equipped for the theft with garments. That puts this offence firmly in the highest category.”

Both Petre, of Consiston Drive, London, and Veriga, of North Bank Road, London were given 18 month prison sentences.

Mihai, of Fulbourne Road, London and Stoicka, of Clomnell Road, London, received 15 and 12 month sentences respectively.