Shirley Sally Pitts, later Shirley Sally Hawkins (24 November 1934 – 16 March 1992), was an English fraudster and thief known as the "queen of shoplifters".
[ Born into poverty and crime, she began to steal as a child to feed her siblings. She was educated in shoplifting by the ]Forty Elephants
The Forty Elephants or Forty Thieves were a 19th to 20th century all-female London crime syndicate who specialised in shoplifting. This gang was notable for its longevity and skill in avoiding police detection.Capstick, J., Given in Evidence, ( ...
, also known as the Forty Thieves, and later diversified into other non-violent crime such as fraud.
When Pitts died of breast cancer, she was given an elaborate funeral in south London
South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...
attended by family and criminal acquaintances that received national media coverage in Britain. The flowers included a six-foot-long arrangement that said "Gone shopping".[
]
Early life and family
Pitts was born in south-east London, in Lambeth Walk
Lambeth Walk is a street in Lambeth, London, England, off Lambeth Road. It was at the heart of a working-class residential area and there was a street market.
The area was originally developed with wells and a recreation ground. Houses fol ...
, Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...
,[ to Harry Pitts, who died in ]Parkhurst Prison
HM Prison Parkhurst is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison situated in Parkhurst, Isle of Wight, Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Parkhurst prison is one of the two ...
in 1962, and Nell Taylor, an alcoholic.[ One brother, Henry "Adgie" Pitts, became a bank robber who died aged 29 in a car crash. She disowned another brother, Charlie, after he took part in a kidnap plot, for which he received a 15-year jail sentence.][
By the age of seven, Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings, after her mother sold their ration books and her father was imprisoned.][ She was evacuated to Yorkshire during the Second World War][ and spent her teenage years in ]reform school
A reform school was a penal institution, generally for teenagers mainly operating between 1830 and 1900.
In the United Kingdom and its colonies reformatories commonly called reform schools were set up from 1854 onwards for youngsters who were ...
s. She was taught how to shoplift by the Forty Thieves Forty Thieves or 40 Thieves may refer to:
* the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Groups of people
* the Forty Thieves (New York gang), an 18th-century New York street gang
*The Forty Thieves (New York City Common Council 1852–1853)
* the ...
, an all-female group of thieves founded in the Victorian era that persisted into the 1950s.[
Pitts had several relationships, which produced seven children by three fathers. Five children were from her relationship with Chris Hawkins, who ran a fruit-and-vegetable stall in ]Hoxton
Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. I ...
market. Hawkins beat her but stopped after a warning from the Kray twins
Ronald Kray (24 October 193317 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were identical twin brothers, gangsters and convicted criminals. They were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London, Engl ...
.[ After he died, she adopted his name.][
]
Career
By her early twenties, Pitts was one of the foremost shoplifters in Britain, running teams of "hoisters" that operated nationally. High-class shops in the West End of London
The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...
were her main target, in particular Harrods
Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...
, Harvey Nichols
Harvey Nichols is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831, at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections for men and women, fashion accessories, beauty products, fine wines and luxury f ...
, and Selfridges
Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...
, as these could supply her with the expensive clothes that she enjoyed wearing and that she could use to make a living.[ She also operated on continental Europe, taking teams of thieves to Paris and Geneva.][
Pitts used seven or eight aliases. Her shoplifting techniques included disguising herself using different wigs, stuffing stolen goods under her voluminous skirts, and the use of "magic bags": carrier bags lined with ]tin foil
Tin foil, also spelled tinfoil, is a thin foil made of tin. Tin foil was superseded after World War II by cheaper and more durable aluminium foil, which is still referred to as "tin foil" in many regions (an example of a misnomer).
History
...
that prevented the detection of security tags when she left a shop with stolen goods. When she had finished with one shop she would sometimes leave the stolen goods in a car outside and enter another shop to see what she could steal.[''Gone Shopping'' launch pack.]
Bloomsbury, 2012.
She was jailed three times and spent a total of three years in prison.[ She was one of the few women to escape a British prison by leaving a van that was taking her to court, ostensibly so that her daughter would not be born in prison.][ She prided herself on never informing or being involved in violence.][
]
Death and legacy
Pitts died of breast cancer on 16 March 1992. After a blessing at the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption in Chigwell, she was buried at Lambeth Cemetery
Lambeth Cemetery is a cemetery in Tooting, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is one of three cemeteries owned by Lambeth London Borough Council, the others being West Norwood Cemetery and Streatham Cemetery.
History
Like nearby Streatham C ...
in a £5,000 blue Zandra Rhodes
Dame Zandra Lindsey Rhodes, (born 19 September 1940), is an English fashion and textile designer. Her early education in fashion set the foundation for a career in the industry creating textile prints. Rhodes has designed garments for Diana, ...
dress that the popular press speculated she may have stolen but that her friends insisted was bought. Her remains are interred in a plot near that of her brother Henry. Mourners were driven from her home in Chigwell
Chigwell is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is part of the urban and metropolitan area of London, and is adjacent to the northern boundary of Greater London. It is on the Central line of the London U ...
, Essex, in a fleet of cars that included 15 black Daimlers.[ The great train robber ]Buster Edwards
Ronald Christopher "Buster" Edwards (27 January 1931 – 28 November 1994) was a British criminal who was a member of the gang that committed the Great Train Robbery. He had also been a boxer, and owned a nightclub and a flower shop.
Early and ...
attended and messages of condolence were sent by the Kray twins
Ronald Kray (24 October 193317 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were identical twin brothers, gangsters and convicted criminals. They were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London, Engl ...
and Ronnie Knight.[ Tributes were paid at the graveside to the fact that Pitts "never grassed" (informed). A floral tribute played on the words that she would use when she went to work, "Gone Shopping".]["Queen of shoplifters goes to ground with fame in the bag and a fitting epitaph in flowers", Duncan Campbell, '']The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 26 March 1992, p. 22. She left an estate that was valued for legal purposes at less than £125,000 and was probably much less.
In the last years of her life she began to dictate her reminiscences to Lorraine Gamman. These formed the basis for Gamman's biography of Pitts, titled ''Gone shopping: The story of Shirley Pitts, Queen of thieves'', which was published in 1996 by Signet/Penguin (2nd, Bloomsbury, 2012).[Gamman, Lorraine. (1996) ''Gone shopping: The story of Shirley Pitts, Queen of thieves.'' Signet/Penguin. ]
See also
* Alice Diamond
Alice Diamond (22 June 1896 – 1 April 1952) was an English career criminal, linked to organised shoplifting.
Early life
Diamond was born Alice Elizabeth Black in Lambeth Workhouse Hospital to Thomas Diamond and Mary Ann Alice Black. Her paren ...
* Brian "Little Legs" Clifford
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitts, Shirley
1934 births
1992 deaths
English female criminals
Deaths from breast cancer
People from Lambeth
Burials at Lambeth Cemetery
English Roman Catholics
Shoplifters
English fraudsters
20th-century English criminals
20th-century English businesspeople