Painstaking work by Met detectives has led to a couple being convicted for stealing bank and SIM cards from gym-goers’ lockers.
Ashley Singh and Sophie Bruyea would visit gyms and, while victims were exercising, Singh would rifle through their lockers.
The pair would then max out their victims’ credit cards on expensive tech and designer gear, before selling them on and using the cash to buy bags, shoes, holidays, and a pedigree puppy.
Meanwhile their victims had money drained from their accounts, couldn’t use their phones, and suffered huge stress and financial loss.
They have now been sentenced at court after Met officers linked them to the thefts.
DC Luis Martins Da Silva, from the Met’s economic crime team that investigated this case, said: “We know Londoners are worried about theft. It’s a horrible crime, and it causes a lot of stress, pain, and financial loss. That’s why we take this crime seriously and a whole team of us were committed to catching Singh and Bruyea.
“You couldn’t fail to be moved by the devastating impact their callous behaviour had on people, and we hope that by catching them this offers victims a little bit of solace. I would urge anyone who has had something stolen to get in touch, because we do want to drive down this crime and go after those who target the public.
“We will now look to forfeit the proceeds of their crimes to try and help compensate those who went through this.”
The pair’s spree was noticed by a local officer, who realised there was a pattern and flagged it to detectives who are experts in economic crime.
A team, who are based in Lewisham, painstakingly traced the pair’s phones, cars, and faces on CCTV and linked them all together. Met officers arrested them at Gatwick Airport on 27 January, 2023 as they returned from Paris with 2,000 Euros worth of designer goods.
All in all 18 people were targeted in what the sentencing judge branded a “wicked conspiracy”. The judge described the impact the pair’s “wide-ranging spree” had had on people, including instances where people no longer felt safe around strangers, or had suffered professionally due to the stress.
There were 18 fraud reports in total, with 14 in the Met area, one from Sussex, one from Hertfordshire and two reports from Cambridgeshire.
The pair, of Widmore Road, Bromley, were sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday, 10 January to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation between January 2022 and January 2023 with a total value of £250k.
Ashley Singh, 39, (22.01.84), was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment while Sophie Bruyea, 20, (09.11.03), was sentenced to 20 months at a young offenders’ institute, suspended for two years, a rehabilitation programme and 120 hours unpaid work.
