Innovative thief made own security tag removal device for shoplifting expeditions

A high-tech thief built his own security tag buster for shoplifting expeditions and he sold his haul on the eBay auction site.

Gary Lucas, 38, from Middlesbrough, shipped powerful magnets from the USA to make a device that removed security tags from electronic goods in stores.

He could slip out without setting off theft alarms, and for four years he sold stolen goods on Ebay.

But he was caught red-handed by staff at Tesco supermarket in South Bank who spotted him on CCTV stealing XBox computer games.

Prosecutor Yvonne Taylor told Teesside Crown Court that Lucas, in a distinctive tartan check jacket and trousers, was tracked as he made his way to the electronic and video games section on April 10 last year.

They watched him use his device, which had four small magnets attached, to remove the security tags from games worth £240, which he stuffed down the front of his trousers.

He then put the tag-buster into his back pocket, and he was detained by security as he was leaving without paying for them.

The staff called the police who seized the device.

Officers searched his home and they also seized his computer which showed Ebay transactions between 2009 to 2013.

Miss Taylor said that when Lucas was interviewed he admitted using the device throughout the region and he said that it worked on most items.

She added: “He said that he stole them with the intention of selling them.”

Lucas had 34 convictions for 106 offences dating back to 1992, and since his arrest with the tag-buster he had been before the courts on three occasions and was given two community orders.

Jonnie Walker, defending, said that Lucas was doing well on the orders, and a pre-sentence report suggested that he should be given a new one.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC told Lucas that he had an appalling record.

The judge said: “You know that, and it’s all down to your addiction to heroin.

“But since these offences you have been subjected to two community orders and doing well, and I’m not proposing to disturb that.”

Lucas, of Salisbury Terrace, Middlesbrough, was given a new community order for 18 months with supervision and 120 hours unpaid work.

He pleaded guilty to two charges of theft on April 10 last year and 15 October 2011, and to two offences of converting criminal property on 4 April last year and between 4 and 5 April last year.