Clothes thief who punched woman fined £800

Thursday 01 December 2022

A 26-year-old who ripped and bit the security tags off clothing stolen from Voisins, and punched a woman who took her alcohol on another occasion, has been fined £800.

Gabrielle Lilian Linstead appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning.

The offences took place on two separate occasions earlier this year.

The larceny took place on 5 March 2022, after a staff member in Voisins Department Store saw Linstead leaving the shop with a pile of clothes. 

A security member caught up with her after she had left the shop and the police were called.

Although the stolen clothes were recovered, some of them were not able to be resold by Voisins as the security tags had been ripped and bitten off, damaging the items.

Pictured: Linstead was sentenced in the Magistrate's Court yesterday.

The value of the stolen goods totalled £398.20. 

When interviewed by the police, Linstead admitted that she had been struggling with personal difficulties and was “probably under the influence of Valium” at the time of the offence.

The larceny was described as an “unplanned and unsophisticated” theft, as Linstead simply left the shop holding the items in her arms without even attempting to conceal them in the backpack she was wearing. 

Linstead initially attended a Parish Hall inquiry for this offence, and was ordered to pay the money back to Voisins.

However, she failed to do so which escalated the matter to the Magistrate’s Court. 

During this time, Linstead also reoffended and was separately charged with common assault.

The assault took place on 6 August 2022, when a member of the public called the police after seeing fight break out on the boardwalk at Havre Des Pas.

Linstead had been drinking that afternoon with a group of females at Havre Des Pas.

She left the group briefly to go to the shop and when she returned, she realised that another member of the group had taken her alcohol which she had left unattended.

She confronted the woman, and there was “pushing and shoving” between them. This escalated to Linstead punching the other woman in the face three times.

Linstead said that the assault was “out of character” and that she was “ashamed and apologetic”.

Addressing the court, Linstead explained that she had been in a “bad place” at the time of the offences and was struggling with her mental health, accommodation situation, alongside other personal difficulties.

However, she said she was in a “much better place now” with stable employment and secure accommodation, and was getting help for her mental health and support from alcohol and drugs services. 

She added that she now had a regular income and was therefore in a position to be able to repay Voisins, which she had been unable to do before.

Linstead was ordered to pay Voisins a total of £300 in compensation for the damaged clothes, and was bound over for six months.

For the common assault charge, Linstead was ordered to pay a fine of £500. 

She was therefore fined a total of £800 to be paid at a rate of £200 per month.