£60,000 of designer clothes found at home of ‘thief’ arrested at Leeds Harvey Nichols

A waredrobe full of designer jeans was found.

About 800 items were found during a search of the property in Lincoln Green after the man was arrested at Harvey Nichols on Saturday.

Sergeant Andy Berriman, of the city neighbourhood policing team, said: ‘‘The striking aspect of this investigation was the sheer volume of items we recovered.

“Conservatively, we believe the clothes and other accessories are worth in excess of £60,000.”

Leather jackets were among the items seized.

Police had been called to Harvey Nichols, on Briggate, shortly before 4pm on Saturday, after a 36-year-old man had been held by security officials on suspicion of stealing a scarf.

He was arrested on suspicion of theft, going equipped to steal and criminal damage.

During the subsequent search of his flat officers found around 180 pairs of designer jeans, including designs by Roberto Cavalli, G-Star and Ted Baker.

More than 300 t-shirts, including Vivienne Westwood, French Connection and Diesel goods, were also recovered.

Many of the clothes still had security tags attached.

One Givenchy t-shirt, which retails at £500, was also found among the haul and is believed to be one of only two available for sale in the UK.

The other was recently sold by Harvey Nichols in London.

Officers also seized 35 leather jackets and a large number of belts and items of jewellery.

Sgt Berriman added: ‘‘This starkly illustrates the significant amount of money that can be lost by businesses through shoplifting and underlines the importance of our ongoing work with our partners in Business Against Crime in Leeds to reduce shoplifting and business crime.’’

West Yorkshire Police said shoplifting had fallen by four per cent in the county in the last two years.