Shoplifting offences surge to a different document excessive: Store thefts rise by a QUARTER in a yr with almost 500,000 crimes reported, police figures reveal
Shoplifting offences have risen by 23 per cent to more than 490,000 a year to hit the highest level since records began, new official figures revealed today.
The shocking data is further proof of Britain’s worsening retail theft epidemic, which an industry body today warned was ‘out of control’.
There were a total of 492,914 offences recorded by police in the year to September, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) found – the highest figure since current police recording practices began for the year ending March 2003.
MailOnline recently obtained CCTV footage from shop owners in Surrey that reveals brazen thieves casually stealing hundreds of pounds worth of stock before fleeing with full bags.
Lindsey Kleinlercher, joint owner of gift shop Between The Lines, said shoplifting is now ‘blatant’ across the store’s 18 locations in the south of England – as she hit out at the lack of support from police.
Police recorded 1.8 million theft offences in the year to September, a two per cent increase driven by shoplifting and a 22 per cent rise in crimes involving theft from a person (146,109). Knife offences and robberies rose by four per cent each.
It comes amid warnings that shoplifting is ‘spiralling out of control’ after a survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) suggested there were more than 2,000 incidents a day, with staff facing assault, being threatened with weapons, and racial and sexual abuse.
This graph does not include data up to September 2024 due to changes in the length of reporting periods.
![MailOnline recently obtained footage from shop owners in Surrey that shows how they have also been hit by Britain's shoplifting crisis. In this grab, a member of staff confronts a shoplifter in Haslemere](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/29/22/94594787-0-Pictured_footage_showing_a_woman_who_steals_a_beauty_item_and_th-a-24_1738189376460.jpg)
MailOnline recently obtained footage from shop owners in Surrey that shows how they have also been hit by Britain’s shoplifting crisis. In this grab, a member of staff confronts a shoplifter in Haslemere
There were more than 55,000 incidents of theft per day, equating to more than 20 million in total.
The alarming figures show the issue is getting worse, with cases of attacks and shoplifting beating last year’s record numbers to be a fresh high since the surveys began in 2001.
This is despite businesses paying a record £1.8billion on prevention tactics such as CCTV, more security guards and body worn cameras.
Some 61 per cent of retailers say the police response to calls for help has been ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Retailers are reporting unprecedented levels of violence towards their staff, with the number of incidents involving a weapon more than doubling to 70 per day.
Alarming cases include staff being ‘spat on, racially abused, and threatened with machetes’ and the perpetrators ‘are getting bolder and more aggressive’ by the day, according to Ms Dickinson.
She added: ‘With little faith in police attendance, it is no wonder criminals feel they have licence to steal, threaten, assault and abuse.
‘Retailers are spending more than ever before, but they cannot prevent crime alone. We need the police to respond to and handle every reported incident appropriately.’
![In another piece of footage, this time from Oxted, a man can be seen squatting down and hurriedly shoving four candles into an open Sainsbury's bag](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/29/22/94594795-0-Pictured_a_man_in_Oxted_squatting_down_and_hurriedly_shoving_fou-a-22_1738189313937.jpg)
In another piece of footage, this time from Oxted, a man can be seen squatting down and hurriedly shoving four candles into an open Sainsbury’s bag
![A man shoving luxury candles into an empty Waitrose bag in the nearby town of Hersham](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/30/10/94594789-14341617-A_man_shoving_luxury_candles_into_an_empty_Waitrose_bag-a-15_1738232526653.jpg)
A man shoving luxury candles into an empty Waitrose bag in the nearby town of Hersham
![Inge Dunbar, 55, who owns Haslemere gift shop Sass and Spirit, has had to pay extra money towards CCTV cameras and an additional member of staff](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/30/10/94552871-14341617-Inge_Dunbar_55_who_owns_Haslemere_gift_shop_Sass_and_Spirit_has_-a-16_1738232672884.jpg)
Inge Dunbar, 55, who owns Haslemere gift shop Sass and Spirit, has had to pay extra money towards CCTV cameras and an additional member of staff
![Stuart Warren, 59, who owns antique shop The Ark Stores, has suffered three break-ins in two weeks](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/30/10/94552855-14341617-Stuart_Warren_59_who_owns_antique_shop_The_Ark_Stores_has_suffer-a-17_1738232674990.jpg)
Stuart Warren, 59, who owns antique shop The Ark Stores, has suffered three break-ins in two weeks
As a result, the industry group reiterated calls for attacks on shop staff to be made a specific offence in England and Wales, as it is in Scotland.
Labour has promised to do this in the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill, which the industry is hoping will be introduced in the coming weeks.
It marks a victory for The Mail, which led the way on exposing abuse against store workers and shoplifting and called for authorities to take the issue more seriously.
The campaign began after Tesco boss Ken Murphy revealed that every frontline worker was to be offered a body camera due to a rise in attacks.
Ministers have also vowed to remove a £200 threshold that means many shoplifting cases are deprioritised by police.
The current laws mean that theft has been ‘decriminalised’, according to Lord Stuart Rose, the former boss of Asda and Marks & Spencer.
But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insisted the country could not tolerate ‘a situation where shoplifters can walk in, shoplift and walk back out again and nobody can do anything about it’ last year.
The frequency of attacks mean that many of the 3 million people working in the retail industry are terrified to come to work, according to The Retail Trust.
‘People are contacting our helpline in their thousands to report horrifying incidents of abuse and violence and many say that they are now at breaking point,’ Chris Brook-Carter, the organisation’s chief executive, said.
![Tania Patmore (pictured), 52, admitted to 73 offences as part of a gang who filled the trolleys and then pushed them out of stores without paying](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/30/10/94629945-14341617-Tania_Patmore_pictured_52_admitted_to_73_offences_as_part_of_a_g-a-18_1738233051555.jpg)
Tania Patmore (pictured), 52, admitted to 73 offences as part of a gang who filled the trolleys and then pushed them out of stores without paying
When shoplifters are caught they rarely face serious punishment, with a woman who stole £145,000 worth of goods from Tesco avoiding jail when she was sentenced this week.
Tania Patmore, 52, admitted to 73 offences as part of a gang who filled the trolleys and then pushed them out of stores in the southeast of England without paying.
But, despite her confession, she won’t spend any time behind bars as she is the sole carer of her teenage daughter.
Each offence consisted of taking from one to ten trolleys from the same store in quick succession.
For Patmore, that amounted to stealing 184 trolleys filled with goods, and attempting to steal another 47.
A sentencing hearing at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday heard the value of the stolen property came to £145,000.
Circuit Judge Robert Fraser gave Patmore a suspended two year sentence after Patmore’s barrister said she was the sole carer for her 13-year-old daughter.
The judge told Patmore: ‘I make it very clear I am doing this purely because of your daughter.
‘You are a very lucky lady.’ Patmore thanked him from the dock.