A DECORATED police officer has been cleared of shoplifting womens’ clothes from a supermarket – and four other charges.

Richard Pendlebury, aged 42, was cleared by a jury at Preston Crown Court of stealing the goods from Asda in Pilsworth in 2014.

The court earlier heard how he had gone to the supermarket with his partner Zoe Wilkinson, aged 30, and that a disagreement had taken place between him and some staff.

Staff accused Mr Pendlebury, an officer of 20 years, who is a custody sergeant at Bury Police Station, of stealing £24 of clothing, but the jury cleared him of theft after he claimed it was a misunderstanding.

Mr Pendlebury said he thought Wilkinson had bought the outfit the week before and was returning it and he was unaware she had just selected them.

The court had heard Wilkinson had suffered from health problems and that one of the couple’s children had suffered from ill health.

Mr Pendlebury had told the court: “I said to (Wilkinson), ‘The stuff in the trolley, is it the stuff you are returning?

“’She replied, ‘Yes, yes, yes’. When she is in a panic attack, she doesn’t listen to what’s going on. 

“I just thought if I don’t put them in the bag it looks like doing something wrong. I put them in the bag. I had no intention to steal anything, I wouldn’t do that.”

Asda security guard Naseem Sher confronted Mr Pendlebury outside the store. The Crown alleged Mr Pendlebury grabbed Mr Sher’s arm and that that amounted to assault.

However, the assault charge was dropped by the prosecution during the trail, which lasted nine days at Preston Crown Court, ending on Monday.
The jury returned its verdict on Tuesday.

It had also been alleged that Mr Pendlebury had conspired with Wilkinson to persuade her hairdresser Natalie Leicester to claim she witnessed Mr Pendlebury and Mr Sher’s disagreement outside the store.

After it emerged that Leicester had not been there, Leicester was sentenced at Bury Magistrates Court for perverting the course of justice and Wilkinson admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice — an offence she will now be sentenced for at Preston Court Court on July 1.

However, the jury cleared Mr Pendlebury of perverting the course of justice, concluding that he played no role in the sending or receiving of text messages between Leicester and Wilkinson.

Jurors also cleared both Mr Pendlebury and Wilkinson of intending to pervert the course of justice by making false allegations that they were the victims of harassment from Mr Sher.

In 2006, Mr Pendlebury fronted a campaign aimed at cracking down on shoplifters in the run up to Christmas.

At the time, he said the operation was to “reinforce the message to criminals that they are not welcome in Bury.”

In 2013, he was given a Chief Constable;s Commendation for extreme courage and bravery after he was stabbed and sprayed with CS gas as he chased a man.