Shoplifting in London 'rises by half' in a year as Met Police record crime spike

Person shoplifting wine
-Credit:industryview/Getty Images


Shoplifting offences in London have soared by 50 per cent according to the latest figures, prompting a stark warning from a retailer's association about the impact on UK high streets. The Met Police documented 78,512 cases of shoplifting in the year leading up to September, a significant rise from the 52,478 offences recorded the previous year.

Across England and Wales, police forces reported a total of 493,000 offences in this period, which is a 23 per cent increase from the 402,000 incidents in the prior 12 months. The British Retail Consortium has described the situation as shoplifting "spiralling out of control", citing their survey that indicates over 2,000 incidents occurring daily, including assaults on staff, threats with weapons, and racial and sexual abuse.

In the capital, only 5 per cent of shoplifting cases resulted in a charge or summons during this time, with a staggering 75 per cent having no suspect identified at all. A further 15 per cent of these crimes were closed due to difficulties in gathering evidence, whereas 2 per cent are still awaiting an outcome.

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Woman shoplifting
Shoplifting has a crippling impact on smaller retailers in particular -Credit:Getty Images

Major retailers have been highlighting the rising costs associated with theft for some time now, while the government has pledged to address minor shoplifting and consider making attacking a shop worker a distinct criminal offence. Following extensive campaigning by business owners and Conservative backbencher Matt Vickers, there's hope that new government measures will streamline police investigation and prosecution processes for such crimes.

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson has expressed concern over the "remain unacceptably high" crime figures, and said that the crimes were "blighting town centres and high streets across the country". She said: “For far too long these crimes have been written off as ‘low-level’ and not treated with the urgency or seriousness they deserve."

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Dame Johnson affirmed that the Government was "determined to turn the page" with plans to increase police numbers and empower officers to "crack down on the criminals who cause misery in our communities".

Police recorded 1.8 million theft offences across England and Wales in the year leading up to September. The country experienced a 22 per cent increase in crimes involving theft from a person (146,000), including 95,982 such crimes in London.

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