Shirley Pitts

When Pitts died of breast cancer, she was given an elaborate funeral in south London attended by family and criminal acquaintances that received national media coverage in Britain.

[1][2] 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.

[2][7] 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 were her main target, in particular Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Selfridges, as these could supply her with the expensive clothes that she enjoyed wearing and that she could use to make a living.

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 that prevented the detection of security tags when she left a shop with stolen goods.

After a blessing at the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption in Chigwell, she was buried at Lambeth Cemetery in a £5,000 blue Zandra Rhodes dress that the popular press speculated she may have stolen[3] but that her friends insisted was bought.

[2] The great train robber Buster Edwards attended and messages of condolence were sent by the Kray twins and Ronnie Knight.