Shirley Sally Pitts, later Shirley Sally Hawkins (24 November 1934 – 16 March 1992), was an English fraudster and thief known as the "queen of shoplifters".[1][2] Born into poverty and crime, she began to steal as a child to feed her siblings. She was educated in shoplifting by the Forty Elephants, also known as the Forty Thieves, and later diversified into other non-violent crime such as fraud.
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. The flowers included a six-foot-long arrangement that said "Gone shopping".[3]