Nadezhda Ivanova, Mariana Petrova and Gina Kalcheva stole bags from trains (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
Three women stole suitcases containing almost £14,000 worth of belongings from train passengers.
Nadezhda Ivanova, Mariana Petrova and Gina Kalcheva picked up luggage they found on from LNER trains on the East Coast Main Line, kept whatever seemed valuable and discarded the rest.
Passengers, often at the start of long-haul journeys across the world, lost passports, computer equipment, medication and clothes, Newcastle Crown Court Heard.
One, a Durham University student on her way back to China for the summer holidays, had more than £2,000 worth of belongings stolen.
Another was a family travelling home to South Korea and had four passports taken.
The court heard the thieves, who were helped in court by a Bulgarian interpreter, would take the luggage from trains heading to London and leave with the bags at Newcastle and Darlington.
They would later look inside the suitcases and decide what to keep and what to throw.
Ivanova was jailed for 27 (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
The women used cards from one of the thefts to make purchases at Sainsburys and McDonald’s.
Ivanova and Petrova admitted four charges of theft on four journeys where luggage was stolen.
Kalvheva admitted three in relation to the three journeys she took part in.
Prosecutor Vince Ward told the court the first train was targeted on June 6, 2022 when a woman traveller lost luggage containing £815 worth of belongings.
The three thieves were caught on CCTV at Newcastle station carrying the luggage.
That same day a passenger had luggage containing £6,000 worth of property stolen and the women were caught on CCTV leaving the train with it at Darlington station.
Two days later the Durham University student’s luggage was taken.
Mr Ward said: ‘This offence happened at the beginning of her return trip to China for the summer holidays, which was an arduous journey in any event.
‘It involved seven days in London before a long flight to Hong Kong, where she had to experience 20 days in quarantine, all without her personal possessions, including medication.’
Petrova at Newcastle Crown Court (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
Kalcheva received a suspended sentence (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
The court heard the student was ‘uncomfortable throughout her entire trip’.
On February 1 last year Ivanova and Petrova left a train at Darlington with a father’s luggage, which was worth £5,000 and contained four passports.
Mr Ward said: ‘He was travelling home to South Korea. He described being upset and stressed by the loss of his property, which contained passports of all of his family, there were four of them travelling.
‘They were due to travel to South Korea from London two days after this offence.
‘He had to remain to deal with this matter while his family continued their journey without him to London.’
The court heard the suitcase was later found discarded in a church yard near Darlington train station.
One of the cases the women stole contained an iPad which had a tracker device fitted and was traced to a hostel in Newcastle, where they had been staying.
Ivanova, 42, of Abbeydale Road, Sheffield, admitted four charges of theft and has been jailed for 27 months.
Kalcheva at Newcastle Crown Court (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
Petrova received a suspended sentence (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
Ivanova at Newcastle Crown Court (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
The court heard she has four previous convictions, which include handling and theft, but has shown remorse, had work in a factory and has stayed out of trouble.
Petrova, 30, of Hetford Road, Enfield, London, admitted four charges of theft.
The court heard she has previous convictions for theft in the UK and has committed similar offences in Austria, Spain, Denmark, Poland and France, some of which have resulted in prison sentences.
Jane Foley, defending, said Pestrova has ‘learned her lesson’, has employment and children.
She was sentenced to two years, suspended for two years, with rehabilitation requirements and 150 hours unpaid work.
Kalcheva, 22, of Abbeydale Road, Sheffield, admitted three charges of theft and has never been in trouble before.
She was sentenced to eight months, suspended for 12 months, with rehabilitation requirements and 150 hours unpaid work.
The court heard Kalcheva, who is Ivanova’s daughter, has a job, has stayed out of trouble and has shown genuine remorse.
Mr Recorder Richard Stubbs said the offences caused ‘significant upset and inconvenience’.
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