Cheese thief jailed and warned to mend ways

Mark Diuk flees from shop staff after stealing from the shelves

A persistent shoplifter has been jailed and will be given another opportunity to turn his life around on release.

Mark Diuk is a well-known offender in the Clifton area of Nottingham and had previously been banned from one shop he had regularly targeted.

The 38-year-old breached the court order banning him from Heron Foods, in Southchurch Drive, on three occasions when he walked through the doors on 2, 12 and 15 March.

Diuk, of no fixed abode, also stole from the store, as well as taking items from shelves in Tesco, in Compton Acres, West Bridgford, and the Co-op in Farnborough Road, Clifton, during March.

On a series of occasions he entered these shops and filled a bag with blocks of cheese and other items.

In total, Diuk pleaded guilty to 13 shop thefts and three breaches of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO).

At Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday (27 March) he was jailed for a total of 31 weeks.

The court was told that during Diuk’s sentence he will be contacted about rehabilitation to escape his cycle of offending.

Police Constable Jane Gibson, of the Clifton neighbourhood policing team, said:

“Persistent offenders like Diuk are given every opportunity to turn their lives around through rehabilitation.

“However, if they don’t take these chances and continue to offend we will not stop arresting them and placing them before the courts.

“Diuk, along with many other of our most prolific shoplifters, is the subject of a Criminal Behaviour Order, which bans him from one shop he has regularly terrorised.

“Simply by walking through the doors he was committing a serious offence which the courts look very dimly upon.

“These orders and our robust response to shoplifters are intended to protect hard-working shop staff and businesses from the harm they cause.”