G4S sued by warehouse operator over Charlotte Tilbury heist

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Criminals stole hundreds of thousands of Charlotte Tilbury health and beauty products from a warehouse guarded by G4S, after access codes were left in the reception area and in a rucksack, according to a lawsuit filed against the security specialist.

International Logistics Group, the operator of the premises in Northampton, has claimed in a High Court lawsuit that thieves stole 242,000 Charlotte Tilbury products in January 2023 as a result of “serious breaches of duty” by G4S.

Lawyers acting for ILG have claimed in court papers that thieves were able to drive three large vehicles to the loading bays, pack up the items over several hours and leave “without G4S even realising” it had happened until “substantially later”.

ILG is seeking to recoup £750,000 it paid out to Charlotte Tilbury, which sells make-up, skincare products and perfume, plus legal costs. The beauty company launched claims against ILG after the theft to recoup the value of the stolen products plus transport costs.

G4S has yet to file a defence with the court but said its subsidiary, G4S Secure Solutions UK, would be defending the claim.

According to court papers, G4S subcontracted its work at the Northampton facility to M&R Solutions Limited, which trades as Nexus National Security Network. G4S confirmed this in a separate statement to the Financial Times.

VPS Group, which owns Nexus National Security Network, declined to comment.

In the court papers, which were filed earlier this year, ILG claimed that a document containing access keys to the site “had been left in an unlocked security desk in the main reception area”.

The claimant added that at least one employee had “written down in a notepad various key codes under his control and kept the notepad in his rucksack”.

These included codes for a lockbox, a side gate for the employee car park and the HGV yard, which opened the main gate to the loading area.

“ILG infers that the intruders obtained those Access Keys as a result of a failure on G4S’s part to keep them secure and/or to take all reasonable precautions to prevent their disclosure,” the lawsuit said.

The thieves gained access in two separate incidents on January 7 2023, ILG said. In the first incident, an intruder breached the perimeter fence at about 5pm and accessed a lockbox containing access keys “without force”.

Using these, the intruder entered the main reception, disabled the alarm and gained access to the warehouse. Products were loaded on to a vehicle, which left after 6pm, according to ILG.

The second incident took place later the same evening, between about 11pm and 11.40pm, the claimant said. Three intruders opened the exterior yard gate and opened the lockbox. A patrol briefly attended at about 11.20pm, prompting them to hide, but after it left the criminals returned to the loading bay, the lawsuit stated.

ILG said in its lawsuit that it was “immaterial” to its legal claim against G4S if the services had been subcontracted to another company. The company declined to elaborate on the court documents. Charlotte Tilbury declined to comment.

G4S was formerly listed in London but was purchased for £3.8bn in 2021 by North American rival Allied Universal, after a series of scandals. In 2019, the government stripped it of work managing Birmingham prison early after inspectors found the jail “exceptionally violent”.