A prolific thief who targeted a shop in Netherfield will start the new year behind bars.
Christos Iona targeted the Netherfield business along with three others in Beeston, Stapleford and Wollaton between November 10 and December 14.
The shoplifter helped himself to meat products, clothing, alcohol and other items before walking out of the stores without paying.
Iona also burgled Beeston-based student apartments on five separate occasions during his crime spree.
Each of the break-ins at Graduation House, High Road, happened between November 30 and December 6.
Iona helped himself to TVs from four of the flats during his spree, while also stealing a high-value arcade machine from the common room.
Officers managed to catch up with the thief within a few days of that final offence though.
Having looked through the available CCTV footage, police identified Iona as a suspect.
Despite Iona being of no fixed address, officers managed to track him down to a Beeston address, where he was detained on December 18.
As well as arresting the 27-year-old, police also found and recovered three of the stolen TVs at another address linked to him.
Neighbourhood officers and detectives charged Iona with 13 offences.
The strength of the evidence they’d gathered meant the thief pleaded guilty to each of them when he appeared in court on Saturday (20).
Iona, of no fixed address, now faces a nervous wait to the new year, after being remanded into custody until January 10.
He’ll appear at Nottingham Crown Court to be sentenced for five counts of burglary, seven shop thefts and one count of handling stolen goods.
PC Samantha Gledhill said: “Our neighbourhood officers and burglary team detectives worked together to great effect to build a strong case against Iona.
“It was really pleasing then to see this tenacity pay off, with all that evidence prompting him to plead guilty to 13 separate offences in total.
“He was responsible for burgling the same student accommodation building no less than five separate times.
“Burglary is a horribly invasive crime that can leave people feeling uneasy about where they live – a fact that would’ve been doubly true here, with young students being targeted.
“When you add his shoplifting spree too, it’s clear Iona has no regard for the law, so it’s good to know he’ll spend the rest of the Christmas period behind bars and be sentenced in the new year.”
