TWO shoplifters have been ordered by magistrates to pay more than £1,640 compensation to the TK Maxx store on The Junction shopping park at Lakeside.

Alexandru Covaci, 23, of Cliffe Road, Strood, Kent, pleaded guilty to stealing £1,641.71 of clothes, jewellery, accessories and bath body products from the store on 22 September 2024.

Southend magistrates ordered him to pay £820.85 compensation, £85 costs and a £114 victim surcharge. They also imposed a 12-month community order, order which includes a requirement to complete 10 days of rehabilitation activity and 140 hours of unpaid work during that time.

The court heard a 22-year-old woman, also from Strood, had admitted the same offence at a hearing on 15 October 2024 and received the same sentence.

Both were arrested on 13 October 2024 after Covaci was spotted by security staff who quickly contacted police patrolling the nearby shopping centre.