Category Archives: Shoplifting

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has recently reported that retail crime in the UK reached its highest level for ten years in 2014.

Shoplifting, cybercrime and fraud cost retailers more than £600m, in spite of businesses spending an average of £2m each on crime and loss prevention measures.

A prolific shoplifter has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to the theft of more than £800 of items – his latest in a string of over 175 offences.

Police said: “Howard Lawrence has a horrendous history of offending, amounting to almost 80 convictions taking in 175 offences nationwide.”

The Western Daily Press reports that a ‘brainless’ shoplifter left behind his address and identity records after stealing a coat from TK Maxx.

Stephen Priddis went into the store, hung his jacket up and took another one. In one of his pockets was a police national computer memo with his details.

A grandmother and her two granddaughters have been given suspended sentences for an ‘organised shoplifting spree’.

Sentencing the trio, District Judge Barney McElholm said this was an ‘organised shop lifting ring’ and to suggest otherwise ‘was an insult to everyone’s intelligence’.

Sky News reports that businesses complain theft from their shops is viewed as a “victimless” crime by police.

Whilst a survey shows a 36% rise in the money lost in shop thefts – the highest figure for a decade – most shoplifting goes unreported because shopkeepers do not believe the police will respond.

Some retailers are slapping security tags on energy drinks. Tesco has reportedly tagged £1.46 cans of Monster Ripper, after a spate of thefts.

One retail source said: “Tagging is going through the roof to keep pace with thefts. Some supermarkets have them on sandwiches and Pot Noodles.”