A GANG of Romanian immigrants who carried out a £2,000 stealing spree at shops along the Suffolk coast is today behind bars.Dulceata Iosif, 22, Raca Petre, 26, and Marius Petre, 18, travelled to the county from their homes in London to carry out thefts in at least five different towns.

A GANG of Romanian immigrants who carried out a £2,000 stealing spree at shops along the Suffolk coast is today behind bars.

Dulceata Iosif, 22, Raca Petre, 26, and Marius Petre, 18, travelled to the county from their homes in London to carry out thefts in at least five different towns.

The trio, who were sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court, stole clothes, shoes and two laptop computers in the premeditated thefts on April 20.

Among the shops they stole from were a clothing shop called Panache and a children's clothing shop in Felixstowe.

They also took more than £800 worth of goods from Fat Face in Aldeburgh and stole the laptops from a shop in Oulton Broad.

They made several other unsuccessful attempts at stealing from various shops including Boots chemist in Felixstowe, an electrical store in Leiston and a shop in Beccles.

During Friday's hearing the court heard that when they were arrested Raca Petre, of Wood Green, London, and Iosif, of Seven Sisters, London, were found to have large sack-type bags hidden under their skirts where they had hidden the lap-tops.

Simon Spence, prosecuting, said: "The two female defendants were dressed in traditional eastern European dress which consisted of long, full skirts.

"Underneath the skirts were bags which seem to have been made especially for the purpose, in to which items could be secreted and kept."

During each of the thefts and attempted thefts one of the trio would try to distract shop staff by asking them questions, while the others would steal the goods.

When the trio were arrested they claimed they had been travelling to a wedding in Nottingham but got lost on the way.

They later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal.

At the time of their crime spree both women were also on bail for attempted theft and assaulting a police officer in London in March.

During this offence the women tried to pickpocket a man in a charity shop before fleeing on to a bus when chased by police.

Once on the bus, both the women, who have young babies, bared their breasts and squirted breast milk at the police officer.

Judge David Goodin did not sentence them for this offence but said it was an "aggravating factor" in their final sentence.

He sentenced Raca Petre and Iosif to 12 months in prison, and Marius Petre, of Tottenham, to six months in prison.