Man pleads guilty to stealing £63,000 of goods from Waitrose in Haslemere

A Haslemere man has pleaded guilty to multiple theft charges after stealing over £63,000 worth of goods from Waitrose last year.

Nick Tauwhare, 26 of Haslemere, was an employee at Waitrose at the time was arrested on Wednesday 11, December 2019 after officers received a call shortly before 12am to report that he had caught him stealing from the store.

Tauwhare had been stealing items on a number of occasions between 1, February 2019 and 11 December 2019.

Tauwhare was arrested on suspicion of theft and a Section 18 search was carried out on his home address in Haslemere. Whilst there, officers found a significant amount of goods, believed to be worth over £25,000, as well as stacks of Waitrose trays which he had used to carry them away.
Officers also found flat pack boxes, envelopes, stamps and bubble wraps, which they believed Tauwhare was using to sell on these items.
Tauwhare later admitted during interview that a further £37,680 worth of items had been sold via four separate Ebay accounts he was running. 

The amount of items taken, including boxes of toiletries, razors, chocolate and coffee, was estimated at a total value of around £63,315.94.
Tauwhare admitted to stealing the items to fund his gambling habit and repay the debt he had accumulated. He was charged on 7 September and appeared at Staines Magistrates Court on Friday, 11 December where he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of theft from a shop and conversion of criminal property.
He will appear at Guildford Crown Court on Monday, 11 January to be sentenced.

Investigating Officer, PC Andy Tindale said: “Tauwhare had been stealing large amounts over a period of months in order to fund a gambling addiction. This cannot be used as an excuse and this kind of criminality will not be tolerated in Surrey. We would like to thank everyone who assisted us in the investigation.”