Lewisham woman demanded biscuits and kicked Met police officer after shoplifting from M&S and Boots

A south London woman demanded biscuits and kicked a Met police officer after she was caught stealing £420 worth of items from M&S and Boots. Leah Layton, 45, of Thomas Lane, Lewisham, was given a community order at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (May 21) after pleading guilty to three offenses at an earlier hearing.

Ms Layton stole £119 worth of cosmetics from a Boots branch in Richmond before stealing £301.48 worth of food and drink from an M&S store in Kew and attacking PC Kovacs from Wandsworth on 30 March 2023. She admitted the three offenses at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on 25 April this year.

At the sentencing hearing on May 21, prosecutor Suleman Hussain told the court that Boots staff said they saw Ms Layton “grabbing a number of items” in the cosmetics area of ​​the store before leaving and “she was not making any attempt ” to pay at the cashier in March. 30, 2023. He said Ms Layton was seen shortly afterwards in an M&S restaurant in Kew “putting several items” into her basket before “picking up a bottle of wine and starting to drink from it”.

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Mr Hussain said staff restrained Ms Layton, who tried to chase them away. He said staff began filling out paperwork to ban her from the store but she “became angry” and began “shouting at staff”. He added that she “started punching and kicking the wall” and used “abusive language towards staff”, who called the police.

The prosecutor told the court that Ms Layton later refused to remove her clothes during an attempted search at a police station in Wandsworth and was placed in handcuffs. He said officers grabbed her arms because of her “aggression and (trying) to leave the room” and then she “asked for tea and biscuits”.

Mr Hussain said PC Kovacs testified he told Ms Layton the station was “not a hotel where she can just ask for things”, but she replied it was “a hotel for people like her and started hitting him the officer in the right thigh with his foot. her right leg’. He added that PC Kovacs was left with no visible marks on his right thigh. When Ms Layton was interviewed by police officers, he added, she said she had taken the items for charity, that she was sorry for what had happened … and (that she) would do better.”

Judge Wendy Preston gave Ms Layton a 15-month community order for the offences. The order requires Ms Layton to complete 25 days of rehabilitation activity and six months of drug rehabilitation. The judge did not award costs in the case but ordered Mrs Layton to pay a government surcharge of £114, which is to be deducted from her benefits.

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