TWO shoplifters who flew to Bristol Airport to steal duty-free goods have been jailed for two months.

In two trips last year Pawel Lenard, 35, and Magdalena Rezler, 34, took goods worth £4,588.60 from World of Duty Free in the airport terminal.

On October 20, 2013 a passenger waiting in the departure lounge spotted two people acting suspiciously and alerted airport staff.

Both suspects had boarded a plane and left the airport before the information could be acted upon but enquiries established that they had flown into the airport that day from Poznan in Poland and had spent 90 minutes in the store and had taken goods worth at least £1,950.20.

The thieves booked another flight to the airport and arrived on December 15 last year. Police officers based at Bristol Airport were waiting for them and watched as they spent two hours in the departure lounge taking items from the shelves. The thieves were arrested as they waited to board a flight out of the airport and in their suitcases we found 40 boxes of perfume worth £2,638.40.

On Tuesday, January 7 Lenard and Rezler appeared at Bristol Crown Court and were convicted of theft. They returned to court today (Friday) and have been sentenced to two months in prison.

Speaking outside court, PC Neil Payne from the Ports Unit said: “These two thieves came to Bristol Airport to shoplift on a professional scale.

On the return leg of their second trip they had booked an extra piece of hold baggage each and it is clear they were expecting to return home to Poland with much more than they brought with them. This was an audacious shoplifting attempt but one we were ultimately able to interrupt.

“We were able to foil their plans thanks to some excellent partnership working with the airport. It was a vigilant passenger who first pointed out the pair to airport staff, an action which has started a chain reaction which has enabled today’s court result and to that person I say thank you. We then worked closely with Bristol Airport to investigate the offences and ensure we were ready for them when they came back.”

Police officers at Bristol Airport have not been able to trace the passenger who first reported these two individuals. They would like to aknowledge the role that person played in this investigation - if you were that person please call 101 and ask to speak to Inspector Barney Gardom.