Man banned from every Asda after cunning £4,000 self-scan carrier bag scam

dailystar.co.uk:

Asdas after self-scanning £4,001 worth of items as carrier bags.Kenneth Hollis, 43 from Dudly, targeted five supermarkets in Birmingham and the West Midlands.

The man broke down in tears at his hearing at Birmingham Magistrates' Court, where he pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud by false representation, BirminghamLive reports.

One of the charges read: "At the checkout you scanned plastic bags only and clicked finish and pay, bypassing the weighing scales."You then loaded the goods into the carrier bags before paying for the carrier bags only with a debit card before leaving the store without offering payment for the goods selected."Between October 1 and February 8 Hollis stole £322 worth of goods from a Dudley store, £1,186 worth from a Birmingham branch, £893 of items from the supermarket in Tipton, £795 worth from Oldbury and £805 of goods from the Halesowen branch.Hollis also admitted an offence of driving a Citroen Xsara without insurance.District Judge Shaw ruled to adjourn the case for Hollis to be interviewed by the probation service, so the full facts of the prosecution case were not opened against the defendant.The Judge told Hollis: "This is a pattern of extremely serious offending because of the high value."Certainly if it's me [sentencing at the next hearing] I will be considering custody and of some length.To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here."Working against that you have not been in trouble for 12 years.

I want a report to know what's going on and what's led to all this."Hollis was bailed with a condition not to enter the supermarket chain as the judge added: "Keep out of all Asda stores.