Monthly Archives: December 2022

The Birmingham Live website reports that a thief went on a shoplifting rampage, stealing more than £4,000-worth of goods in two months, including a £500 haul of condoms.

Ashley Roden committed a dozen incidents, striking six times at Co-op, five times at Boots and once at JD Sports.

According to the Birmingham Live website, shoppers should be wary of goods being offered at discounted prices, as they may have been sourced by criminals who are increasingly stealing to order.

Once an order is received, thieves are given a ‘shopping list’ of the exact items that they should steal from a certain shop or supermarket such as M&S, Lidl and Asda.

As reported on the Retail Gazette website, shoplifting cases have surged 16% in just three months as thieves steal essential products from supermarkets amidst soaring living costs.

According to Freedom of Information requests by The Telegraph, Sainsbury’s and Tesco accounted for two-fifths (40%) of overall cases.

Whilst we find and report stories of fraud and theft on these pages, we also found this very interesting personal and heartfelt account of what it is like to become addicted to gambling and the extreme measures that one such addict took to feed his addiction.

Steve Ramsey’s piece was published on the Metro website and is well worth a read.

The Yorkshire Post website reports that four British Army soldiers and one of their wives stole military equipment from their regimental stores.

Stephen Miles Bagshaw, his wife Fay Bagshaw, Ben Alexander Garner, Lloyd Doak and Thomas Smith all pleaded guilty to stealing night vision goggles, helmets, weapon sights, ear defenders, clothing and boots worth around £106,000.

The Talking Retail website reports that supermarkets’ self-checkouts are being particularly targeted by first-time shoplifters who have no criminal background.

According to retail artificial intelligence specialist Scanwatch, UK retailers have reported an 18% rise in theft in the second half 2022 and, in nine out of 10 incidents, self-checkout tills were being used.