serial thief | 

Woman with 149 convictions shoplifted €426 of protein products from Holland & Barrett

Megan Gaffey (26), who had 149 previous criminal convictions, returned to the same shop three times to take the goods.

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A mother of two who shoplifted hundreds of euro worth of protein products from a health food store has been given a 10-month suspended sentence.

Serial thief Megan Gaffey (26), who had 149 previous criminal convictions, returned to the same shop three times to take the goods.

Judge Cephas Power said the accused would have the suspended sentence “hanging over her” for two years.

Gaffey, with an address at a hostel on Marlborough Street, Dublin, pleaded guilty to theft.

Dublin District Court heard the three thefts happened at Holland & Barrett on Henry Street in February last year.

A garda sergeant told Judge Power Gaffey went to the shop on February 1 and took protein products worth €240.

She returned on February 6 and took €96 worth of products, while goods worth €90 were taken on February 21.

Gaffey had 149 previous convictions, the majority of which were under the Theft Act.

She was already serving a jail sentence when she appeared in court and was due for release in June this year.

The accused had a severe addiction problem but had got help while in custody and had “got off everything”, her solicitor John Quinn said.