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Shoplifter banned from every Sainsbury's in the country gets a job... as a shelf stacker in his local Sainsbury's


Published: 06:33 EST, 1 October 2012 | Updated: 06:55 EST, 1 October 2012



A shoplifter who was banned from every Sainsbury's in the country has returned to the scene of the crime - to work there.

Supermarket bosses have admitted they mistakenly employed Vishal Patel, 24, as a shelf-stacker.

Embarrassed Sainsbury's has now torn up the crook's job offer after he failed to reveal his past convictions on his application form. Patel targeted Sainsbury's Warren Heath store in Ipswich... before getting a job there

Brazen Patel, of Ipswich, Suffolk, said he applied because he did not realise the Sainsbury's ban was permanent, and thought it expired after 12 months.




He was arrested five times on suspicion of targeting the town's Warren Heath store five times in three weeks between March 30 last year and April 19. The shoplifter pleaded guilty to stealing a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey

Patel said he had applied for the shelf-stacking post because he was desperate to pay off debts.

The convicted thief's past is understood to have been exposed when senior staff were alerted while he was on a training day before starting work.

Patel admitted stealing a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey worth £36.79 from the Sainsbury's superstore on April 18 last year.

The shoplifter got an eight-week prison term suspended for 12 months by Ipswich magistrates on May 4, 2011.

Patel was then sent a letter by Sainsbury's banning him from shopping at its stores or going to its petrol stations permanently.

A company spokesman said: 'Mr Patel was convicted and banned from all our stores a year ago.

'He neglected to mention his banning or convictions on his application form or at the subsequent interview, and as soon as this came to our attention we rescinded his job offer.'

A stunned Sainsbury's source said: 'It was totally amazing that he came for a job at the place he had stolen from.'

