Jeanette Fidler targets gyms, health centres and leisure complexes (Picture: Cavendish)

A mother nicknamed ‘The Magpie’ has been spared jail despite having more than 218 convictions under her belt.

Jeanette Fidler, 44, turned to crime after losing her job 17 years ago when she started using heroin.

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She targeted women’s lockers at gyms, health centres, leisure complexes and spas across northern England.

One woman lost her engagement and wedding rings while in another incident she targeted five different lockers.


She has spent time in prison, but it has not deterred her from re-offending upon her release, tricking staff into opening lockers for her by pretending a friend had left with the key or that she had lost it. She either sold the property or used cheques or credit cards to go on spending sprees.



She has been barred from all leisure centres, gyms and hotels across the UK as part of her Asbo.

Fidler pictured in her police mugshot in 2002, soon after she turned to crime when she lost her job (Picture: Cavendish)

However, she was arrested in July after lockers were targeted when staff let her use the ladies’ toilet at Salford Community Leisure centre in Greater Manchester.

She admitted breaching her Asbo but was spared jail after she insisted that she didn’t break into any of the lockers.

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The single mother – who has a three-year-old son – claimed she was only at the leisure centre because she was desperate for the toilet while visiting an art and craft fair.

But Judge Bernadette Baxter said: ‘I don’t believe a word of it. The reality is she is a woman who is a heroin addict.

‘She knew what this place was, she knew there was a pool there, with lockers and a gym. She could have gone to the local shops, pubs, cafes, anywhere that has a toilet. Why did she go out of her way to go to the leisure centre. How daft does she think people are?’

Fidler, pictured in 2011, has 218 convictions against her over the last 17 years (Picture: Cavendish)

The judge added: ‘It was a clear breach of this behaviour order. She did this on purpose and she has an endless record of previous convictions. This order was created to protect the public from having their property stolen, but this clearly hasn’t worked. She has already done time in prison and it’s clear to see that this doesn’t work either. ‘

She told Fidler: ‘That is a familiar seat that you are sitting in in this dock. You have a three-year-old child, and yet you are still making these terrible decisions.

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‘We both want to prevent your child from going along the same path that you have done. Neither of us wants him to get hooked on heroin or damage property or spend time within the criminal justice system.

‘You have umpteen previous convictions but I’m not going to send you to prison as I think this will encourage your little boy to get involved with the kind of life you have lived. We need to prevent you from going to leisure centres, breaking into the lockers and stealing other people’s stuff, causing them distress and upset so you must get involved in a drug rehabilitation programme.



‘We need to prevent you from going to leisure centres, breaking into the lockers and stealing other people’s stuff, causing them distress and upset so you must get involved in a drug rehabilitation programme.

‘You need to get in control and keep control and you need to start putting your child first instead of yourself.’

Pictured in 2013, she has been spared jail for her latest offence (Picture: Cavendish)

Fidler’s life of crime began in 2000 after she lost her job as a recruitment company manager and became hooked on heroin while living in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

To pay off her drug debts she began preying on users of gyms and swimming baths – regularly taking wallets and keys from bags and clothes of unsuspecting customers when they were distracted with their children or taking a shower.

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In 2002 she was jailed for three and six months and branded a ‘wholesale thief’ after she admitted 32 offences of theft or deception with 184 offences taken into consideration.

In 2011 she was jailed for a further two years after she admitted looting 65 more lockers and the following year was banned by a judge from entering hotels with gyms and swimming pools for four years under the terms of an anti-social behaviour order. She was jailed for a further 12 months in 2014 for similar thefts theft and breach of an Asbo.

She was jailed again for eight months in December 2016 after she admitted theft of £600 in cash and a £500 iPhone as well as credit cards, house keys and hair straighteners from women’s changing rooms and breaching an Asbo following thefts from lockers at The Midland Hotel in Manchester, and the neighbouring Sportsdirect Fitness and Bannatyne’s gyms.


Prosecutor Nicola Wells said: ‘She has breached her criminal behaviour order which prevented her from going to any leisure centres, gyms or hotels but there is no suggestion that she broke into any of the lockers.

‘On the day in question she went to the Salford Community Leisure Centre and asked to use the toilet. She did initially tell the assistant working at reception that she was subject to a criminal behaviour order and that she wasn’t supposed to be inside a leisure centre, but she really needed the toilet. The assistant let her inside but began to wonder as she had not come back after 20 mins.

‘Upon checking the toilets, the assistant saw that numerous lockers had been broken into, indicating that the defendant had broken into them. However, there is no information to confirm that actually happened.’

In mitigation, defence lawyer Helen Longworth said: ‘We must remember that she has not been charged with the thefts. She was at an arts and crafts fair with her friend and was quite a way from any shops nearby, it would have been a five to ten minute walk and she was desperate.

‘She has been trying to turn her life around and has been clean for a few years now. She wants to show her son and herself that she can have a better life. She has been in prison many times but she does show remorse for what she did and regrets for her actions.

‘She understands the harm that her previous convictions has caused and does not want to get back onto that path – she wants to get on the right path. She wants to keep her criminal behaviour in check.’

Britain’s most prolific female thief is thought to be Penelope Russell, 48, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, who has clocked up 249 offences since she was 12.