Shoplifter: Police need to stop people like me

A persistent shoplifter has said the police need to do more to stop people like her stealing from businesses.

She said shoplifting was easy, and even the clothes she had on were stolen.

BBC News has spoken to shopkeepers blighted by shoplifting - as well as those who are committing crimes.

It comes as retail bosses say they are now losing millions of pounds to thefts, which are being driven by organised crime gangs as well as persistent thieves.

Amy, not her real name, is a shoplifter. She says she has to steal from shops in Nottingham because her partner has an addiction, which leaves her with no money.

"This morning I stole two Monster energy drinks, I decided to steal some pasties that go in the microwave. I bought myself - well, I stole myself - some soup, some pork pies."

Looking down at her clothes she says: "I've stolen my shoes, my coat."

Amy describes shoplifting from different stores in the area.

"Co-Op was easy this morning because there was no security on. I tried TK Maxx the other week, but I got caught." She says she has now been banned from the shop.

She feels bad about what she is doing, she says, and the impact it has on shops - but she does it anyway.

"They are trying to do business, so when you're stealing it's costing them money," Amy says. "Trust me, when I steal, I feel very guilty doing it - but I have to."

She thinks the police could do more to combat the actions of people like her.

"When people shoplift, they [police] should start putting pictures of the shoplifters on the internet, maybe on the front doors so people can see 'warning', you know, 'shoplifter'.

"I don't think police quite do their job properly."

Standing on her doorstop in the Sherwood area of the city, another woman tells us how stolen items are sold in the neighbourhood.

"I'm like CCTV on this street. I know everything that's going on," the woman says. She points to a terraced house down the road: "That's where all the shoplifters are." She says she buys washing detergent from them.

"They turn up on my doorstep with sometimes 10 boxes of washing powder, they always sell it for around £15, never much more than that. They need the fix, you see. The drugs must be about £15. I'd never buy meat or other stuff they try to sell."

Adrian Bhagat runs a business selling vegan products in the same area.

Shoplifters might think they are "sticking it to the man," he says, "but I'm the man - I work very hard for my money.

"I'm the person who's having to pay for all the costs of people shoplifting and stealing, and I don't think it's fair that rests on me and all the local shopkeepers."

Retailers have warned that shoplifting has become an "epidemic".

Nottinghamshire Police saw a 36% rise in shoplifting in the 12 months to July 2023.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) told the BBC that the levels of theft now cost retailers almost £1bn a year.

Lucy Brown, an operations director for high street giant John Lewis, says the retailer is increasingly targeted by organised gangs, as well as those with "chaotic lives".

"We are seeing high-value products in John Lewis like popular fragrance, wearable tech. In Waitrose, it's things like alcohol, cigarette substitutes, and high-value meat actually being stolen because it has value on the black market and can be sold on.

"We're not seeing people steal for needs at all. We're seeing people steal for greed, because they want to sell that product."

She says that it is not just an issue for police.

"What we need is for people to understand this is a society problem, and we need help from the police, from the judiciary and from politicians."

A Home Office spokesperson told the BBC shoplifting "strikes at the heart of the British high street".

"We are working with businesses and the police to tackle shoplifting." They said that included supporting Project Pegasus, an operation funded by leading retailers, which will use CCTV pictures and enable firms to share better information to tackle offending.

Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for acquisitive crime, said "organised crime is, of course, only part of the problem," but added: "We continue to target those prolific and habitual offenders whose behaviour causes misery and takes profit from our communities and retailers."

Back in Nottingham, a young couple invited the BBC to look into the back of their car to see their "graft bag".

A man who identifies himself as "Jordan" tells us: "I robbed £400 worth of cosmetics this morning."

His girlfriend, Rose, who is in her 20s, flips down the sun visor above the steering wheel and looks in the mirror. She pulls out a pink tub of Soap & Glory Body Butter and begins rubbing it into her face.

"I robbed this," she says. "I'd rather pay for it, really. But it's too much, I can't afford to pay for it. So you have no other option.

"You rob it or that's it, you can't have it. "