Bullring Birmingham: Serial pickpocket Melania Urmuz who stole purses at UK shopping centre jailed

A serial pickpocket who targeted shoppers at a popular shopping centre has been jailed for a year. Melania Urmuz, 52, of no fixed abode, had targeted shoppers at stores including TKMaxx at the Bullring in Birmingham and stole a purse containing £400 cash from a woman on November 18.

She returned to the store on November 24 and during a 25-minute period attempted to steal from a further eight victims, then finally stole a purse containing another £400 before leaving the store. She was caught the next day when she went back into the store and was recognised by staff, who called the police right away.

West Midlands Police said Urmuz had tried to steal from another five victims in just seven minutes, according to the CCTV footage obtained from the store. Urmuz initially denied she had tried to steal from anyone saying she was in fact trying to close their bags up.

Urmuz was previously jailed back in June for 40 weeks after admitting 13 attempted pickpocket offences in under an hour at Primark in the city centre. She pleaded guilty to all counts and was released from prison in November after serving half of her sentence. She was therefore recalled to prison for breaching the terms of her licence for the June offences.

She has now been jailed at Birmingham Magistrates Court on Monday (November 27) after pleading guilty to two charges of theft and 13 charges of attempted theft from a person.

PC Mat Evans, city centre neighbourhood policing officer, said: “This was a fantastic outcome as a result of a combination of brilliant observation skills from TK Maxx staff and a swift reaction from our pickpocket team. Urmuz is a prolific professional pickpocket and her being sent to jail will keep the people of Birmingham safe over Christmas and beyond. Getting her off the streets has certainly filled me with festive cheer.

“Over the last six months a dedicated team of officers across Birmingham have been coordinating their efforts to tackle pickpockets as part of Operation Willowvale. Their work has led to the arrest of dozens of professional pickpockets, pushing detection rates up, and crime rates down. This recent arrest is just another example of their hard work.”