A NOTORIOUS shoplifter has been imprisoned after a plain-clothes police officer wrestled him to the ground in a south Essex garage.
Scott Gambier, 46, of Ordnance Road, Enfield, was subject to a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) that prohibited him from entering the BP garage on Rayleigh Road, in Brentwood, but he was subsequently caught on CCTV in the store on multiple occasions last summer.
His spate of thefts came to an abrupt end in early September when he was taken down by PC Jack Douglas of the Epping Forest and Brentwood Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT).
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He was taunting staff at the BP garage, loudly dismissing the prospect of police arriving and began filling a shopping bag with M&S meat. Seconds later, PC Douglas tackled Gambier and arrested him.
Sergeant Jamie Shepherd of Epping Forest and Brentwood NPT said: “Scott Gambier repeatedly targeted the BP garage and showed a brazen disregard for the law. He decided he’d ignore his CBO and now finds himself serving a considerable prison sentence.
“Shoplifting is not a victimless crime. It harms businesses and understandably infuriates law-abiding customers who witness it.
“We’ve been working with retailers to quickly identify suspects, and we’ve delivered training and streamlined the reporting process.
“We have also been running a plain-clothes operation to catch people committing theft and to act as a deterrent. If you go into a shop and start helping yourself to goods, the person watching you could be a covert officer.”
Gambier later pleaded guilty to 23 counts of shop theft and 22 breaches of his CBO.
He was sentenced to two years in prison at Basildon Crown Court with six months added to his sentence for breaching the terms of a suspended sentence he was given in April 2025.
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