Pickpocketing women will be deported

Viorica Calescu, aged 44, and Simona-Carmen Barabas, aged 42, both of Chester Close in Luton, were arrested for purse-dipping (pickpocketing) offences, which occurred in St Albans, Harpenden and Watford, during February and March this year.

Earlier this year, Calescu was sentenced to 58 weeks imprisonment and Barabas was sentenced to 40 weeks imprisonment. They were both also ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge.

They were jointly charged with:

> Stealing a purse from underneath a pushchair at 4.20pm on March 17, 2017 in Boots in St Peter’s Street, St Albans.

> Stealing a purse from a coat in the back office of JoJo Maman Bebe in Church Green, Harpenden, on March 7, 2017.

> Stealing a purse in Poundland in High Street, Watford, on February 28, 2017.

> Stealing a £400 mobile phone from a woman’s pocket in M&S in High Street, Watford, on January 31, 2017.

Calescu was additionally charged with:

> Stealing a purse from a woman in Sumpter Yard, St Albans.

> Handling stolen goods in relation to receiving a stolen bank card on February 16, 2017.

Following their conviction both women, who are from Romania, are due to be deported.

Barabas is due to leave the UK this month (June) and Calescu will be deported in July.

The decision to deport them was made by the Home Office after officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary carried out checks with international partners that revealed that the women had a history of prolific offending overseas.

PC Shaun Woods, from the St Albans Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “Due to their overseas offending and their convictions here in the UK these women have lost their right to live here.

“As with domestic criminals, when foreign nationals are arrested and convicted we carry out comprehensive checks to expose any previous offending that has occurred, including overseas.

“If these convictions reach a certain threshold we make a referral to the Home Office for deportation as the offender’s presence in the UK is not conducive to the greater good of the public, and often, public safety.

“This case shows how criminality can have far reaching consequences, as not only were these women arrested and put behind bars they now have to leave the country and return to their native Romania.”

“Hertfordshire Constabulary always carries out checks on foreign nationals who have been arrested and convicted of crimes in this country and, where appropriate, we will apply to have criminals removed from the UK.”