olivia
Holly Trevillion, a sixty three year old woman from Bournemouth, who used to work for Sainsbury supermarket, came into the public attention for stealing close to £200. This occurred at different times during different supermarket visits and raised issues to do with employees’ conduct as well as the consequences of making wrong decisions. Holly Trevillion allegedly stole her uniform from the company to gain access to the facility, to steal. This strategy helped her to imitate current staff as she was also pickpocketing different items. There was surveillance video footage of her, and subsequently she was recognised and apprehended. The thefts were repeated, and from Trevillion who had stolen food products and other household items. Her early invisibility was due to the fact she knew about the store layouts and working, a trick often employed by insiders. However, as current staff members started to get an idea of the likelihood of inventory manipulation and the existence of specific products, an inquiry was launched. Holly Trevillion was suspected by store management who were conducting their own investigation and later seeing the security footage. It can be noted that the circumstances were enough to involve police. Despite that, after her arrest she was charged with theft and fraud more than once.
Trevillion was convicted of 5 counts of fraud. From work experience at Sainsbury and the circumstance under which she made the actions has been looked at by the judge. She has been given what is termed as conditional discharge because she will not be subjected to any further penalties if she doesn’t offend again in the next two years. This case brings into focus issues of current interest in retail, especially issues to do with employee theft and ways of preventing such theft. Employees and customers are protected from shoplifting by strict retail anti-theft policies, as well as surveillance cameras. However, cases like that of Holly Trevillion show that even those people whom an organization enjoys prove capable of making decisions that have adverse impacts. The fraud has raised questions on the psychological push that could compel such persons, and other professionals who once worked in institutes of responsibility, to become thieves. Some instances under pressure of financial distress or some other circumstances it is possible to act contrary to one’s own wishes. As for the case of Holly Trevillion, people can understand that one decision can bring more troubles not only to the subject but also to the firm, where the subject used to work and the surrounding community as a whole. This paper focuses on the topic of employee theft within the retail sector, and the case of Holly Trevillion illustrates the diversity of this problem. Even though she has undergone the ugly experience in the law court, several questions arise with regard to employment support structures and more so the need for preventing such decisions.
