A prolific ''industrial'' shoplifter who made more than £500k by tricking stores into refunds for items she never bought, including at a store in Oxford, has been jailed for 10 years.

Narinder Kaur, also known as Nina Tiara, 54, deceived more than 1,000 retailers into refunding her for items that she never actually purchased.

She was convicted of multiple counts of fraud and other offences across the country from a list of major retailers and was sentenced today in her absence.

Passing sentence, Judge Ian Lawrie KC, at Gloucester Crown Court labelled her as a "thoroughly dishonest individual".

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Kaur, of Cleverton, Wiltshire, was convicted of all 26 counts on an indictment which included fraud, possessing and transferring criminal property and perverting the course of justice following a trial that lasted four months at Gloucester Crown Court.

Her shoplifting spree included a Homesense store in Oxford's Templars Square 

During the trial, the prosecution proved that Kaur defrauded the various retailers over a thousand times between July 2015 and February 2019.

CCTV footage ofCCTV footage of Kaur (Image: SWNS)

A close examination of her bank and credit card accounts, of which she had very many, showed that she had visited and defrauded multiple Boots stores.

Over the period between July 2015 and September 2019, she received £60,787.09 in refunds from Boots despite having only spent £5,172.73 with the high street retailer during that same period.

She also received £42,853.65 in refunds from Debenhams despite having only spent have £3,681.33 during a four-year period, and she received £33,131.61 in refunds from John Lewis stores having only spent £5,290.36 between August 2015 and December 2018.

She also visited multiple Monsoon stores where she claimed £23,000 more in refunds than in payments out to the stores.

Between January and July 2018, Kaur also targeted House of Fraser stores where she spent £2,853.55 and claimed refunds of £23,147.75.

Between 2018 and early 2019, she defrauded Homesense stores in multiple locations, including Oxford, of £19,540.17 yet she only spent £1,181.45.

In addition, over the same period she defrauded TK Maxx of some £14,563.53.

CCTV footageCCTV footage Kaur (Image: SWNS)

She targeted Homebase between August 2015 and February 2019 and defrauded the company of £3,238.47.

She also attempted to defraud Wiltshire Council of £7,400.

Additionally, she worked with a male accomplice to use stolen bank card details to make payments to her own heating oil supplier.

She also instructed several solicitor’s firm to sue her brother and arranged for an accomplice to make payments in the thousands of pounds using stolen card details which she then asked the solicitors to pay to her.

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She also lied to the court and produced false documentations to avoid being convicted of speeding offences and to relax her bail conditions.

During two police searches of her home, around £150,000 in cash was found hidden away as well as stolen goods.

The final part of her crime was to lie in the face of court proceedings, in order to mislead the court and try to affect the outcome.

After sentencing, Steve Tristram, a fraud investigator for West Mercia Police, said: "She is, without doubt, the most dishonest person I've ever dealt with in 40 years of policing."