Woman used Muslim dress as disguise for raid on beauty salon to steal hair removal machine

(L-R) Harpreet Kaur, Monica Pashias, Tyrone Waugh
Met Police
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A woman who wore a full-length niqab as a disguise as she orchestrated a raid on a beauty salon to take a laser hair removal machine has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Harpreet Kaur, 29, posed as a customer to get access to the treatment room at the Pure Skin salon in St George’s Wharf, using the traditional Muslim garb and sunglasses to hide her identity.

Once inside, Kaur unlocked the door for accomplice Monica Pashias, 42, to burst in, posing as a police officer to remove the salon’s Alma Soprano Platinum Ice hair removal machine – worth up to £50,000.

A third person, Tyrone Waugh, 41, helped to carry the machine away while Kaur left the terrified beautician locked inside the salon as they fled.

At Inner London crown court yesterday, Kaur was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after a jury found her guilty of false imprisonment and possession of an article for use in fraud.

Harpreet Kaur leaving court with her solicitor (Nigel Howard)

Judge Silas Reid said Kaur “instigated” the illegal raid, believing the hair removal machine was rightfully hers, and had “taken the law into one's own hands”.

“I’m quite sure you and Ms Pashias hatched a plan, at your instigation, to get your hands on that machine by any means necessary”, he said.

“You disguised yourself by wearing Islamic dress which covered your face, and I’m quite sure the reason you were dressed that way to go into the salon was to disguise your identity.”

The judge accepted that Kaur had a “genuine” belief that the machine was rightfully hers, but added: “You knew full well you were not entitled to use the methods you did to obtain that machine. That’s obvious, people can’t go around falsely imprisoning people – that’s vigilantism, taking the law into one’s own hands”.

Pashias and Waugh were both given suspended prison sentences last year after admitting robbery. Kaur went to trial, with the jury convicting her on two charges but unable to agree on a count of robbery.

The court heard Kaur had reported her own hair removal machine stolen to the police in 2018, and became "fixated" on the idea that she had found it at the Pure Skin salon.

She enlisted Pashias' help to get it back, and on August 2, 2018 went into the salon under the pretext of have a "patch test" for a treatment session with beautician Claudia Alexandra Sores Fernandes Marques.

When Pashias burst in, she claimed to be a police officer and demanded the return of the hair removal machine. She was carrying a fake warrant card, although never produced it during the raid.

As they left with the machine, Kaur - who had filled in false details on the treatment form claiming to be a tourist from Dubai - told Ms Marques: “You are in big trouble, you need to run, this was stolen from me”.

When police tracked Kaur down, she produced a false document which she claimed proved ownership of the machine. The judge said he believed Kaur had lied during her evidence at trial.

The court heard the raid had “traumatic” impact on Ms Marques, who was unable to return to work and left needing food bank support for her family.

Judge Reid rejected an appeal for Kaur to be spared a spell behind bars due to the impact of coronavirus on prison conditions, telling her: “You decided to use any means necessary to get that machine, and you have to bear the consequences of that now”.

Kaur, from Hounslow, will serve up to half her prison sentence before being freed on licence.

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