A shoplifter arrested in the car park of a Welsh supermarket with items worth thousands of pounds had driven all the way from London, a court has heard. Most of the items found in Giorgi Khvedelidze’s vehicle still had shop security tags attached to them but police were unable to attribute the items to particular shops or incidents of theft so were unable to charge him.
Swansea Crown Court heard Khvedelidze was also found with a screwdriver, a magnet, four pairs of scissors, and a pocket knife which a judge described as “items obviously of use for a shoplifter” though the defendant had innocent explanations for his possession of the unusual collection. Alycia Carpanini, the prosecutor, said acting on information received, police went to the car park of the Tesco supermarket in Milford Haven on July 3 this year and arrested Khvedelidze in his vehicle.
It was known the defendant had driven to the Pembrokeshire store from his home in London via a route which took him through Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. A search of the car uncovered £5,000 worth of items from Tesco, Aldi, and Boots stores which still had security tags attached and appeared to have been stolen, though police were unable to attribute the vast majority of items to particular shops.
Officers were, however, able to link Khvedelidze to an incident of shoplifting earlier that same day at the Tesco shop in Cardigan during which more than £700 worth of health and beauty products such as razors and electric toothbrushes had been taken. In his interview, the 47-year-old defendant gave a prepared statement in which he said the tools and items found in his car were not intended for shoplifting but had innocent explanations. He said the screwdriver was for fixing the car, the scissors were unused and intended to be sent back to Georgia, the pocket knife was a useful multitool which he used daily, and the magnets were for picking up small pieces of metal from clocks he liked repairing.
Khvedelidze, of Western Avenue, Acton, London, had previously pleaded guilty to theft from Tesco in Cardigan and to going equipped for theft when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions. The court heard that when the defendant committed the offences, he was on court bail ahead of a trial at Maidstone Crown Court in July 2025 in respect of unconnected theft allegations.
Ryan Bowen, for Khvedelidze, said the offending was related to the defendant’s “emotional state of mind” following the recent death of his mother. He said his client had used the two months he had spent in custody following his arrest constructively by learning English and he said Khvedelidze was keen to obtain a work permit as soon as he could. Recorder Aidan Eardley KC said the defendant had been found with “items obviously of use for a shoplifter” when he was arrested, but he noted police had been unable to establish where most of the goods also found in the car had come from.
He said he was in the unusual position of not finding the pre-sentence report very useful as the author of the report had taken a view of the seriousness of the offending which neither he nor the prosecution had taken, and he said given the facts of the offences before the court, they did not warrant a custodial sentence yet the defendant had spent two months in custody – the equivalent of a four-month sentence. The recorder made Khvedelidze subject to a 12-month conditional discharge.