Shoplifting suspect tried to stash stolen goods in New Milton garden

ONE of three suspected shoplifters arrested in New Milton last week had tried to stash stolen goods in a garden.

Neighbourhood policing team officers were out looking for two suspects in connection with a theft reported by a store that day, when another raised the alarm saying a large haul of goods was stolen.

Posting online afterwards, beat Sgt Arron Wood credited team member PC Appleby with using intuition to search an area away from the town centre.

This resulted in a man matching the description of the suspect for the second shoplifting being located on Jowitt Drive and arrested.

Assisted by a colleague from Lyndhurst’s district policing team, PCs Appleby and Evans spotted the two suspects for the first shoplifting while en route to custody.

The pair, one of whom was also a potential suspect for two other shopliftings in the town over the last eight days, were walking along Gore Road towards Walkford.

Sgt Wood wrote: “Upon seeing PC Evans getting out of the van, the other man had taken a carrier bag containing the alleged stolen goods from his friend and attempted to hide it in a neighbouring garden, but he had been spotted by officers and the goods located, with security tags still on intact.”

Two men were later charged with offences relating to the shoplifting incidents, with a third man given a community resolution disposal for handling stolen goods.

The team’s busy shift that day continued with work on a time-critical case file for another suspect relating to several investigations, who was in another custody centre.

This led to a man being charged with a number of offences in the New Milton area in recent weeks.

Posting online afterwards, Sgt Arron Wood wrote: “We know we haven’t publicised very much about the work that we do here at New Milton NPT lately but rest assured, the team work incredibly hard and are frequently off late due to the work that we deal with.

“Most of the suspects that the team deal with are repeat offenders and therefore we will look to robustly prosecute them through the courts.”

Sgt Wood sought to assure people the team was dealing with a wide range of incidents, as well as shoplifting.

Those with crimes or suspicious activity to report are urged to contact officers online at hampshire.police.uk or by calling 101.