Jayne Rand, of Swindon, England, was sentenced this week to an 18 month jail sentence after shoplifting $200,000 worth of handbags. No kleptomaniac, Rand was such an expert thief that the judge, Rhys Rowlands, felt compelled to remark upon her professionalism:
"How you got away with it for so long without being caught was deeply remarkable. You showed professionalism and that is why you went undetected for so long. You travelled the country with the sole purpose of theft and you made a successful albeit dishonest business of selling stolen handbags. The values are quite outside of what the court comes across even from professional shoplifting gangs."