British woman goes on stealing spree at Changi Airport during transit
Tanya Bridget Hughes, a 36-year-old British national, was fined S$5,000 in court on Thursday (5 Sept) for a stealing spree at Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Source: Canva, for illustration purposes only.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), the British woman was in transit at Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 on 31 May when she committed the crimes.
She was awaiting a flight to Bali scheduled at 4.10pm that day.
Stole items valued at more than S$600
Her first stop was The Shilla Cosmetics and Perfumes Outlet at Terminal 4 Departure Transit Central.
While in the store, she grabbed an eye cream worth S$158 from the Estée Lauder section and concealed it in her bag.
Source: The Shilla Duty Free
The 36-year-old woman then proceeded to purchase two items from a different section.
However, she intentionally left the store without paying for the eye cream.
Source: Google
Subsequently, she made her way to a Charles & Keith store where she stole a black shoulder bag worth over S$82.
Her next items were two books titled ‘The Daily Stoic’ and ‘Atomic Habit’ which she snatched off the racks of WHSmith.
The two books amounted to S$37.
Her stealing spree did not stop there as she proceeded to purloin the following items:
- Two neck pillows worth S$50 each
- Two trays of chocolates worth about S$46
- Four tubes of La Roche Posay sunscreen and moisturiser worth S$154
- One Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf tumbler worth S$59.90
Her loot from the 100-minute stealing spree came up to a grand total of over S$600.
She was eventually caught red-handed and arrested.
Prosecutor sought a “very lenient” S$5000 fine
The prosecutor in Hughes’ case sought for a S$5,000 fine for her crimes at Changi Airport.
According to court documents, the defence had tried to reduce her fine by S$2,000 which was rejected by the prosecutor.
He sustained that the S$5,000 fine was already a “very lenient” punishment.
He shared that Hughes initially faced eight counts of theft under Section 380 with a mandatory jail term, which could be aggravated “because she stole so many items”.
The prosecutor added that the charges have already been reduced as he is only seeking a fine.
“S$5,000 is lenient because it’s not going to be crushing on the accused,” the prosecutor stated.
“The accused has sustained herself in Singapore on rental income, and along the way, managed to hire esteemed counsel.”
Hughes’ lawyer, Jeremy Mark Pereira from Singapore law firm Withers KhattarWong, explained that the British national “has issues” which she requires medication for.
These “issues” were not specified.
“At the outset, my client is deeply embarrassed and sorry for her conduct. This is the first time she is in trouble with the law anywhere in the world,” said Mr Pereira.
Hughes has since paid the fine in full.
Under the Penal Code 1871, for each count of theft, she could have been jailed for up to three years, fined, or both.
Also read: ICA officer at Changi Airport steals S$650 from departing travellers, gets 14 months’ jail
ICA officer at Changi Airport steals S$650 from departing travellers, gets 14 months’ jail
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Featured image adapted from Changi Airport and Canva, for illustration purposes only.
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