Father and son ‘stole champagne from Fortnum & Mason’

A property developer and his teenage son stole eight bottles of champagne from Fortnum & Mason hoping to ‘bluff their way out’, a court heard.

Douglas Vallender, 52, and Jack Vallender, 18, swiped the bubbly from the famous Piccadilly department store in London’s West End on 1 May, it is alleged.

The Cornwall-based businessman walked out with the bottles worth £348 without paying, Southwark Crown Court heard.

It is claimed they entered the upmarket store and between them smuggled out the box of champers before being stopped in the street.

Prosecutor James Cartwright said: ‘The charge against both of them is that on the first day of May 2017 they stole eight bottles of champagne belonging to Fortnum & Mason Limited.

‘Stealing means thieving, half inching, shop lifting in this particular case, intending to keep it. The question is whether they stole it or not and we have to prove it to make you feel satisfied so that you are sure.

‘The outline of this case is extremely simple, we are dealing with a shop lifting from Fortnum & Mason.

‘It is a very smart and expensive shop, sitting on the south side of Piccadilly where all the rich people and tourists go for their shopping.

‘At about 12:15, these two gentlemen Douglas Vallender, the older gentleman, the father of Jack, entered the store – they had come to Fortnum & Mason intending to get champagne, they say to buy.

‘It appears from the interview that they, or the father, had been there before and they were familiar with Fortnum & Mason’s layout.

‘What happened on this particular occasion is that these two defendants went downstairs.

‘They had a bag that they filled with eight bottles of champagne, they went upstairs and from the top of the stairs they walked out the front door and onto the pavement.

‘The prosecution says that this was a thought out and planned theft.

‘They thought, “if we are brazen and do it openly, no one will stop us. We will walk out the store and bluff our way out.”

‘Unfortunately for them, Fortnum & Mason has a fairly complicated security system.

‘We say that you are going to watch two people [on CCTV] shoplifting, as simple as that. Brazenly and openly shoplifting.’

Mr Cartwright went on the quote each of the father and son from their police interviews, after they were arrested.

Jack Vallender said: ‘By sheer accident we walked out the store and we forgot to pay.’

Referring to his son, Douglas Vallender said: ‘He was getting in a bit of a flap and I said, “okay, okay,” and we walked straight out of the shop, never batted an eyelid and all the rest of it.’

Mr Cartwright, addressing the jury, said: ‘You have got to say to yourselves, “have I ever walked out of a shop carrying a heavy load?”

‘You wouldn’t forget eight bottles of heavy champagne carried – lugged – out of a shop.’

David Campbell, defending Douglas Vallender, said: ‘They admit that they walked straight down the stairs, picked up the products, and left.’

Daniel Kersh, defending Jack, said: ‘The champagne they had actually chosen was, in fact, one of the cheaper ones on offer at Fortnum & Mason.’

Douglas Vallender owns Valle Construction and Valdon Developments based in St Ives, Cornwall and also owns two coffee companies, Kwick.Coffee and Exspesso (corr).

Douglas and Jack Vallender, of Wheal Venture Road, St Ives, Cornwall both deny theft from a shop.

The trial continues.

ends