Moment serial shoplifter brazenly fills up bag with hundreds of pounds worth of Boots beauty products as part of £100,000 haul – before she was finally stopped
A serial thief haphazardly stuffs a bag full of Boots beauty products worth hundreds of pounds before leaving without paying a penny; this is part of an incredible £100,000 haul.
Shocking CCTV footage from a Boots store shows shameless Gabriella Stan, 25, stealing Maybelline cosmetics off the shelf with the help of an unidentified female assistant.
In the 41-second clip, Stan, who came to the UK from Romania, is seen searching around for a security guard, looting several items and putting them in the bag held by his accomplice.
He then walks away, followed by a third woman driving the bag, believed to be an unconnected customer.
The thief mainly targeted Ealing, Wandsworth, Camden and Kensington branches in London but also stole make-up from Boots in Pontypridd, Wales.
Today he admitted stealing goods worth £100,000 over nine months at Southwark Crown Court and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Prosecutor Babatunde Alabi said Stan was a ‘persistent criminal’ who stole £5,000 worth of beauty products during a solo expedition at Boots in Richmond last October.
He told the court: ‘He enters boot stores with at least one woman.
In the 41-second clip, Stan (pictured), who arrived in the UK from Romania, is seen searching around for a security guard, looting several items and placing them in a bag held by his accomplice.
Shocking CCTV footage at Boots store shows shameless Gabriella Stan, 25, stealing Maybelline cosmetics off the shelf
‘High value make-up and beauty products are targeted and placed in the bag before being removed from the store.’
Members of the gang frequently distracted security guards while their accomplices gave them beauty products.
Dhanes Charme, defending, said: ‘This is actually someone who is following other people’s orders.’
He added: ‘He can’t write his name, he can’t read it, he can’t write.’
The lawyer cried in the defendant’s chair while explaining that her husband had not visited her since his arrest and that it was understood that he had ‘abandoned’ her.
Stan, of Longbridge Road, Dagenham, admitted 14 charges of theft and asked the judge to consider a further 36 offences.
Boots submitted a business impact statement estimating they lost £143,220 as a result of the theft between May 2 and December 7, 2025.
The thief mainly targeted Ealing, Wandsworth, Camden and Kensington branches in London
Prosecutor Babatunde Alabi said Stan was a ‘persistent criminal’ who stole £5,000 worth of beauty products during an expedition
Judge Stephen Tomlinson said: ‘In each case you stole high value products from branches of Boots chemists.
‘Your crimes were always committed with accomplices who distracted you.
‘There was a recent incident where you went up to South Wales and were arrested.’
He added: ‘The sheer volume of crime means significant planning has taken place.’
The judge said he was prepared to sentence Stan ‘based on the more conservative figure of £100,000’.
He appeared in court with the help of a Romanian translator. Stan will serve half of his sentence before being released on licence.
Stan has also been banned from entering all Boots stores in the UK until 28 April 2031.
Chief Inspector Rav Pathania, the Met’s lead on tackling retail crime, said: ‘Tackling shoplifting is a top priority for the Met and last year we solved almost twice as many cases, arresting almost 50 per cent more suspects.
‘Shoplifting has fallen by almost four per cent in London; That means 3,200 fewer victims.’
