The “master and mistress” of shoplifting led police on a death-defying car chase after they were caught stealing over £500 of dental products from a York shop which they stuffed inside a pram.
Toothpaste thieves Emma Johnson and her partner Lewis Wray – a convicted murderer who was on life prison licence – brushed with death on umpteen occasions during their flight from police on the A64 around York and Tadcaster.
Johnson, a mother-of-four, was at the wheel of a Ford Transit van which she drove at speeds of up to 70mph in restricted speed zones and residential areas.
She was trying to escape police after stealing £513 of electric toothbrushes and toothpaste from Superdrug at Monks Cross, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Matthew Moore-Taylor said that security staff at Superdrug had alerted police after spotting the couple walking out of the store with a pram full of stolen items.
Johnson and Wray, both 35, then parked their white Transit van outside the nearby Sainsbury’s store in Monks Cross but mysteriously, the stolen goods had vanished by the time they were approached by a police officer.
The pram was empty, so too the van, and when the officer tried to detain them, Wray simply walked away with the empty pram while Johnson ran back to the van.
“She tried to get in and start the vehicle as the officer tried to stop her,” said Mr Moore-Taylor.
“Wray pushed the officer… and Johnson broke free and made her way to the Transit van and drove away.”
Wray jumped in the van as it sped towards the A64, by which time traffic officers had been radioed about the fugitives and were chasing the vehicle, driven by Johnson, along the dual carriageway.
Multiple police cars and the force helicopter chased the van as Johnson sped away in an “appalling and erratic” manner, overtaking and undertaking vehicles and “narrowly missing” other vehicles.
Police tried times to “box her in” but Johnson stymied their attempts by “swerving in the road, across various carriageways, narrowly missing officers’ vehicles and that of members of the public”.
Johnson then swerved violently off the dual carriageway at the last second and sped into a “congested” Tadcaster town centre, “narrowly avoiding other road users” as she did so.
She sped into a residential area at double the 30mph speed limit, overtaking several vehicles. As she drove on the wrong side of the road, the van slammed into a car driven by a female motorist as she was making a turn at a junction, damaging the vehicle’s bodywork and doors. The woman was “extremely shaken”.
Johnson continued speeding through the town centre, at times driving on the wrong side of the road and at speeds of up to 67mph in a 30mph zone, before rejoining the A64 where police finally managed to box in the van.
When the van finally stopped, Johnson and Wray made a run for it but were arrested after a short foot chase.
‘Utterly reprehensible’
Johnson was charged with shop theft, dangerous driving and driving without insurance. Wray was charged with shoplifting.
They both ultimately admitted the charges and appeared for sentence on Friday (7 June).
Mr Moore-Taylor said the stolen items were never recovered.
Johnson had previous convictions for 26 offences, mainly for shoplifting and going equipped.
Wray’s had eight previous offences including theft but also murder when he was in his teens.
The couple, who had travelled to York from their homes in Doncaster, had been on shoplifting sprees together in various parts of the country.
Defence barrister Samuel Sharp, for Johnson, said his client’s behaviour was “utterly reprehensible” and she had previous convictions “relating to her previous substance abuse”.
Daniel Ingham, for Wray, who is also unemployed, said his client had drug and alcohol problems.
Recorder Taryn Turner described the shop thefts, which occurred in September last year, as a “determined and planned escapade” and that the pair had apparently been “stealing to order”.
She told them: “I have no doubt…that you are sophisticated, professional shoplifters. You are the master and mistress of committing shoplifting offences. It’s quite clear to me that you were out filling your pram with as much booty as you could get.”
She said Johnson’s driving was “one of the most appalling” pieces of dangerous driving she had ever seen.
However, due to the impact that an immediate jail sentence would have on Johnson’s children and other family members, it could “just” be suspended.
Johnson, of Runnymede Road, was given a 13-and-a-half-month jail sentence, but this was suspended for 18 months. She was banned from driving for a mere 12 months and there was no order for compensation to either Superdrug or the woman whose car was damaged.
Johnson was ordered to complete a 25-day rehabilitation programme. There was no separate penalty for driving without insurance.
Wray, of Beckett Road, received a seven-month suspended prison sentence with 25 rehabilitation-activity days. They were both made subject to a 12-month exclusion order banning them from Monks Cross.
Mrs Turner told the pair: “I hope that you consider yourselves fortunate. Don’t go to Monks Cross on your way home.”