Chocolate thieves toured country to raid shelves

Chocolate thieves who toured the country stealing sweet treats to sell on have been spared jail sentences.

Vasile Leonard Ionescu and Daniel Florin Mihai travelled from their home in Ipswich to raid shops in North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.

York Magistrates' Court heard the men stole nearly £5,000 worth of chocolate and Nespresso coffee pods in a series of thefts between 12 February and 1 March.

Ionescu, 26, and Mihai, 29, both of Spring Road, were banned from every Tesco, Sainsbury's and Co-op store in the UK for two years and each handed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

They must also pay compensation of £750 each, which will be divided between the three shop chains.

Supermarkets have started keeping chocolate locked in anti-theft boxes due to reports packs were being stolen to order.

Chocolate prices in supermarkets rose by more than 18% on average during 2025, according to market researchers Kantar.

Defending Ionescu and Mihai, solicitor Andrew Craven said Ionescu had travelled to the UK legally from Romania, while there was still freedom of movement.

He had previously been employed but fell into debt and struggled to make ends meet when his work ended.

Mihai, who is also from Romania, came to the country after Brexit, and believed a job would be available for him that would allow him to send money to his family back home.

However, the court heard the men were not successful, mainly held back by not speaking English.

The pair then started their spate of shop thefts locally, taking advantage of the chocolate and coffee market in which prices were "increasing exponentially".

They stole chocolate valued at £300 from the Co-op in Woodbridge, Suffolk, on 12 February, before moving on to Fordham in Cambridgeshire a week later, where they raided another Co-op for coffee.

Craven explained the men had been stealing to sell the goods on and they were not for their personal use.

With only so many shops in their area, they expanded their operation to North Yorkshire where stores in York, Harrogate, Malton and Knaresborough were targeted.

In one of their larger raids, Ionescu and Mihai stole chocolate valued at £673.90 from Sainsbury's in Malton on 26 February.

The next day, they moved on to Bradford where £307 of chocolate was taken from a Tesco in Shipley.

On 3 March, they were arrested by North Yorkshire Police on the A1(M).

Prosecutor Kathryn Walters said both men had pleaded guilty to 12 charges of shop theft and one charge of attempted shop theft on 5 March.

Ionescu pleaded guilty to a further three charges of shop theft in Rochester, Surrey and Harrogate at the sentencing on Wednesday.

Craven said: "These are not professionals carrying out this offence.

"They are genuinely remorseful they got into this mess."

As well as a suspended sentence, magistrates ordered Ionescu to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, while Mihai was given 180 hours.

The Association of Convenience Stores said in February chocolate was being "sold on by criminals and is now being targeted more frequently by prolific offenders".

The Heart of England Co-Op group, which runs 38 stores in the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, said chocolate theft had cost it £250,000 last year.

It was the group's most stolen product in 2024 and topped only by alcohol in 2025, it said.

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