Woman jailed after stealing more than 300 boxes of Cadbury’s creme eggs

Dan McDonald
Fri, 03 Apr 2026 03:00:13 +0000

A woman has been jailed for 41 weeks after stealing 320 Cadbury’s Creme Eggs in a prolific shoplifting spree.

Leah Harding, 37, took 64 wholesale boxes of the chocolates from Barn Garden Centre on Gunthorpe Road in Peterborough on February 13.

Security footage showed her leaving the store carrying multiple boxes, each containing five eggs.

Later that day, Harding stole £300 worth of spirits from Dobbies Garden Centre in Hampton.

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She then targeted a Co-op store in Eye on three separate occasions, making off with alcohol and cheese.

Harding, who has no fixed address, was arrested on March 18.

Appearing at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on March 27, she pleaded guilty to five counts of shoplifting.

She was also ordered to pay £882.26 in compensation to the affected businesses.

PC Rebecca Risebrow, from the Spree Offender Team, said: “Harding brazenly stole from several retailers in the Peterborough area with no thought of the impact of her actions.

“These were not isolated incidents, but persistent behaviour that caused financial loss and disruption to local businesses.

“We continue to work closely with retailers across the city to identify offenders, share information and take positive action wherever possible - targeting some of the county’s most prolific offenders.”

The Cadbury factory in Birmingham produces more than 500 million Creme Eggs every year.

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Britons buy around 220 million Creme Eggs each year - accounting for 44 per cent of global sales.

Cadbury faced backlash in 2015 after changing the recipe of the popular treat, replacing its signature Dairy Milk chocolate with a standard cocoa mix for the shell.

The move also coincided with a controversial reduction in multipacks, which were cut from six eggs to five.

Sales fell by almost £6million over the 2015 Easter period following the changes, according to analysts.

Cadbury defended the move, insisting the confectionery "had never been called Cadbury's Dairy Milk Creme Egg".

They added: "We have never played on the fact that Dairy Milk was used."

Despite their popularity, Creme Eggs are only the fifth best-selling Cadbury product in the UK.

Dairy Milk bars remain the nation’s favourite, with Britons buying more than 350 million each year - nearly a million every day.