Category Archives: Shoplifting

According to the BBC News website, businesses across the South East say shoplifting has become “much more brazen”, with staff being shouted at and abused.

One Canterbury shop owner, Laurissa Woolgar, said thieves in her store, “just don’t seem to care at all”.

According to the Standard website, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has explained that the surge of shoplifting in the capital is because the city has ‘a lot of shops’.

Asked why the problem is particularly bad in London, Khan said: “Because we have a lot of shops here, and because the cost of living crisis is more acute…”

According to Mail Online, more than a third of Brits openly admit to using self-service checkouts to steal from shops.

Criminology experts say self-service machines have created a ‘new breed of shoplifter’ who are stealing at times they otherwise wouldn’t.

The BBC News website reports that retail crime is “out of control” and shoplifters are carrying out increasingly brazen and violent acts of theft.

In some cases, offenders are openly clearing complete shelves of items in full view of customers and shop workers – a tactic sometimes known as “kamikaze” shoplifting.

The BBC News website reports that a woman who stole an “eye-watering” amount of cosmetics from Tesco stores across the UK has been jailed for 18 months.

Cristina Curt was part of an organised shoplifting gang which stole £48,000 worth of stock in 2024.

According to the Metro website, a group of small business owners in Haslemere, Surrey, have launched a vigilante WhatsApp group to counter the rise in ‘well-off, middle-aged’ shoplifters.

The traders send pictures on the WhatsApp group warning each other that previously identified thieves are in the area.