Two young women who helped themselves to stolen Crocs shoes during the looting and riots in Hull city centre have avoided jail.
Elizabete Zvirgzdina and Lucy Houghton brazenly handled stolen Crocs that had been lifted from the Shoezone shop and dumped on the pavement by a man who broke into the high street store.
One of the teenagers was also among those who targeted the 02 and Lush stores during the 12 hours of mob violence that wreaked havoc in August, Hull Crown Court heard.
Elizabete Zvirgzdina , 19, of Constable Street, off Hessle Road, west Hull, admitted burglary at the Lush store in Jameson Street, Hull, involving entering the shop as a trespasser and stealing “multiple products” of an unknown value, on August 3. She also admitted burglary with intent to steal at the 02 store, also in Jameson Street.
Zvirgzdina – known as Elizabeth Zvirgzdina – and the other defendant, Lucy Houghton , 19, of the same address in Constable Street, both admitted handling stolen goods by dishonestly undertaking or assisting in the retention, removal, disposal or selling of stolen shoes, of an unknown value, from Shoezone on the same day.
The court heard that the shoes, which had been stolen from the raided stoe, in Jameson Street, were ditched on the pavement outside the store and both Zvirgzdina and Houghton picked them up and stole them.
Zvirgzdina also admitted a separate offence of possessing cannabis on August 5. Jennifer Gatland, prosecuting, said that the pair were not involved in the earlier violent disorder. “They were involved in the looting,” said Miss Gatland.
CCTV and social media footage obtained by police following the scenes of distrubances and looting showed Zvirgzdina entering the O2 store at 6.37pm. The windows had already been smashed.
“A significant amount of looting had already taken place,” said Miss Gatland. Zvirgzdina was seen “wandering around” but she did not take anything. At 6.48pm, Zvirgzdina entered the Lush store, which had been closed and locked up.
She picked up a basket, filled it up with items – “as much as she could carry”. A man was later seen dropping Crocs shoes on the pavement near Houghton.
“The pair of them are seen with several pairs of Crocs in their hands,” said Miss Gatland. Zvirgzdina was also seen with the items from Lush.
Both individuals handed themselves in to police on August 5. When Zvirgzdina was searched, she was found in possession of cannabis. Judge Mark Bury said: “That wasn’t very clever – going to the police station with cannabis.”
Zvirgzdina told police that she had drunk five to seven vodka and Cokes. She went to the protest outside the Royal Hotel in Ferensway and said that it was about “kicking all the foreigners out of the hotel”.
She admitted being outside Shoezone and picking up Crocs and entering Lush and filling up her basket. She claimed that she had entered 02 “for 30 seconds” and, during the incidents, had “recorded it on TikTok Live”, the court heard.
“There was some degree of planning,” said Miss Gatland. “Clearly, there was substantial impact and a substantial degree of loss caused by the loss and damage.” Zvirgzdina and Houghton had no previous convictions.
Claire Holmes, mitigating, said: “Both defendants behaved in an appalling way on this particular day but, since then, they have done all that they could to try to put forward their best mitigation. They both handed themselves in to the police station.
“They were both in drink, which is no excuse. Neither defendant seeks to excuse their behaviour in any way. They are both apologetic.” Judge Bury said that one of them later claimed that she was not in drink.
He asked Zvirgzdina: “What were you thinking of then?” She replied: “I didn’t think anything. I just saw everyone else doing it so I thought it was acceptable.”
When Judge Bury told her that it was not acceptable, she hastily added: “I know it’s not acceptable but I see everyone else doing it.” She said that her father lived in Latvia and her mother lived in Gilberdyke.
Zvirgzdina said that she had a “little brother” and admitted that her behaviour was a very bad example to set him. “I apologise,” she said. She was working. Judge Bury told her: “For goodness’ sake, stay out of trouble.”
Houghton told the court that she was unemployed. “I have applied for jobs,” she said. Her mother was “ashamed” of her. “I am sorry,” she said.
Judge Bury told her: “You are better than this. You have got to do something with your life. You did something really stupid, although you didn’t yourself break in to any store.”
Judge Bury told both women: “August 3 of last year represents a stain on this city. There was large-scale public disorder of a totally unpleasant, racist and violent type. Police officers were injured. Racial minorities were being verbally abused.
“You were not involved in that, either of you, but later in the day, when the shops had been looted and broken into by people with bats or sometimes just their boots, property was being stolen by people who thought it was the right thing to do to help themselves.”
Zvirgzdina picked up a basket in Lush and helped herself to “a lot of stuff” and walked out. She went into O2. “There was nothing there you liked, probably because it had already been ransacked, and then both of you picked up some shoes that had been taken just a few moments earlier from Shoezone,” said Judge Bury.
“That’s essentially looting. When it’s carried out in the context of public disorder, then that makes those offences very serious. It’s why you have been sent here to the Crown Court.
“Both of you are totally ashamed of the things that you did. Both of you are far better people than this. I believe you two are the only two defendants that I have not locked up in these proceedings, so if you want to knopw how lucky you are, that’s how lucky you are.”
Zvirgzdina was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and 12 days’ rehabilitation. Houghton was given 40 hours’ unpaid work and 15 days’ rehabilitation.
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