Three members of the same family stole more than £9,000 of goods from Norwich stores in a shoplifting spree in which they hid items in specially adapted overcoats.

Iona Raducanu, 57, together with Bianca, 21, and Luisa, 18, were in Norwich on an "away day shoplifting exercise".

Norwich Crown Court heard how the three defendants - and another who cannot be named for legal reasons - stole champagne and make-up totalling £9,421 from three stores.

The gang stole £340 of champagne from Majestic Wines, before taking more than £3,000 of cosmetics from Boots and then almost £6,000 worth of make-up from House of Fraser in Chantry Place, formerly Chapelfield Mall.

Jude Durr, prosecuting, said one of the defendants acted as a lookout while the three others "filled their clothing with items" from the three stores.

The defendants entered the shops wearing overcoats which had been adapted in that they had "ripped the linings out so the stolen goods could be stored".

All four were arrested following the offending on February 7 this year.

Bianca Raducanu and Luisa Raducanu gave no comment interviews while Iona had said she came to Norwich to "shop and do other things" and "didn't know the others".

But all three defendants, who each spoke through a Romanian interpreter, appeared at court on Thursday (April 7) for sentence having each previously admitted three counts of theft from shops.

A fourth defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is being dealt with for these matters separately in a hearing at Norwich Youth Court.

Recorder Laurence Harris said the "away day shoplifting exercise" was a "planned group activity" which took "significant planning".

He described the theft of goods, totalling more than £9,000, as "serious offending" which crossed the custody threshold.

Recorder Harris said he had "no confidence" either Iona Raducanu, who has six previous convictions for six previous offences, and Bianca Raducanu, who has 13 previous convictions for 21 offences, would comply with court orders.

He said they were of a high risk of reoffending.

Iona Raducanu, from Ilford, was jailed for 24 months.

Bianca Raducanu, of London, who also admitted breaching a suspended sentence order, was described as an "addict when it came to theft" and received an 18 month and two week sentence.

Luisa Raducanu, from Ilford, was given a 14-month sentence, suspended for 18 months and ordered to do up to 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR).

She must also comply with a six-month electronically monitored curfew preventing her from leaving her home between 10pm and 6am.

Recorder Harris also ordered forfeiture and destruction of the coats which had the linings ripped out in order to conceal stolen goods.

Dhaneshwar Sharma, appeared at court on behalf of all three defendants.

For Iona Raducanu he said that there had been a "long period of abstinence" during her offending history.

On behalf of Bianca, Mr Dhaneshwar said her young age was her greatest mitigating feature while she also has a six-year-old and a high-risk pregnancy.

And on behalf of Luisa the barrister said she was very young with a child and another one due in June.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed shoplifting fell by 28 per cent in Norfolk in the year to September 2021 while people were stuck in lockdown.

But reductions in shoplifting and other offences, like robberies, were to be expected in a year when people spent more time in their homes due to Covid-19 restrictions.

However, in 2018/19, before coronavirus had hit, Norfolk police were called to 4,172 reports of shoplifting.

In 712 cases, almost 17pc, the victim did not support further action - a massive jump from 33 out of 3,888 cases four years ago - just 1pc.

Police figures from 2018 show 1,306 cases, a third, resulted in a charge or summons, while in 1,140 cases no suspect was found.