Creme Egg heist foiled by police

Police officers in Shropshire have “helped save Easter” after foiling a plot to steal £40,000 worth of Cadbury’s Creme Eggs.

Police cracked the case after almost 200,000 Creme Eggs were stolen from a unit in Stafford Park, Telford, over the weekend. “Other chocolate treats were also taken,” said Metro.co.uk, with the entire haul thought to be worth “around £40,000”.

Describing the offence as an “eggs-travagant theft”, West Mercia Police tweeted that they had “helped save Easter for Creme Egg fans” after “a vehicle, presumably purporting to be the Easter bunny, was stopped northbound on the M42 and a…man was arrested”.

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Joby Pool, aged 32, “used a stolen lorry cab to make off with chocolate after breaking into a Telford industrial unit with a metal grinder”, reported The Guardian. He is now facing a two-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to theft and criminal damage, and is expected to be sentenced on 14 March.

Prosecutor Owen Beale told Kidderminster Magistrates Court the self-employed ground worker had used a stolen tractor unit to tow away the trailer full of chocolate. But shortly after reaching the northbound M42 Pool was spotted by police and “gave up at junction 11 and walked towards the police with his hands up. He was arrested and the load was recovered.”

Beale told the court that the crime was “clearly an organised criminal matter”. He added: “You don’t just happen to learn about a trailer with that kind of value being available.”

Pool, from West Yorkshire, was previously convicted of theft, handling stolen goods and driving while disqualified in 2019. Defence solicitor John McMillan told the court that as there had been “no interference with the food products that were taken” the chocolate treats were ready to “go back on the shelves.”