Josh Tranter, Liam Berry & Susie Rack
BBC West Midlands

It is 09:30 at a branch of Greggs in Bearwood, near Birmingham.

The first shoplifter of the day has already walked out with a can of Red Bull.

Less than 30 minutes later, two men with rucksacks do not even hide their faces as they ransack the fridge, swearing angrily at a female worker who tries to stop them.

The scene unfolds right in front of a BBC team - which has just arrived to talk to staff and customers about shoplifting.

Workers tell us the brazen 55-second raid is all in a day's work, with offenders targeting the outlet multiple times every day.

Staff are advised to stay behind the counter and do nothing, they say.

However, they still face the daily onslaught from persistent thieves who threaten them - sometimes violently - if they attempt to intervene.

Greggs says it takes the industry-wide problem of shoplifting "extremely seriously" and has enhanced security measures across its outlets.

Annie Knowlson
BBC North West

A Liverpool business owner says small retail outlets "can't afford" to lose items as shoplifting offences continue to rise on Merseyside.

Ian Silverberg, who owns Silverberg Opticians, tells the BBC: "Your problem is that you don't have insurance to cover it.

"In the past, we've had Cartier glasses stolen to the amount of £1,500 - I've got to pay that out of my pocket.

"I've got to be able to afford to buy all this stock, afford to pay my rent, my rates, my staff."

Silverberg added: "The punishment doesn't fit the crime - it's treated as such a low-level crime. Nothing really gets done about it and it's going to increase and increase.

"As there's more poverty, it will increase even more."

Lauren Hirst
BBC News

A woman who ran a gift shop and photography studio says she shut down the retail side of the business due to worries over shoplifting.

Leanne Jeffries ran Timeline Photography and Gift Shop in the Flixton area of Trafford in Greater Manchester.

She recalls how she was targeted by a group of shoplifters a couple of years ago who stole a children’s bike from the shop.

She said: "One of the adults in the group distracted me at the other side of the shop while a teenager came in and stole the bike from the window display.

"I saw red. I was really angry and upset that someone had invaded into the space and were trying to ruin small businesses that were just trying to make an honest living."

Jeffries tells the BBC that one reason she focused solely on photography was because she was left "on edge, worrying that people were going to come in and shoplift".

Lauren Hirst
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

A supermarket director says people are stealing items that are easy to resell.

Paul Gerrard, director of campaigns, public affairs and policy for the Co-op in Manchester, says: “What we have seen over the last few years, and which is why crime is at the level it is, people are not stealing to feed themselves, they are stealing to sell.

“It might be protein, steak, chicken; it might be household cleaning products, it might be alcohol.

“Confectionery is easy to sell, so it's things that have a relatively high value and are able to resell.”

He says the company has invested about £250m in prevention measures over the past eight years, including body-worn cameras for staff.

Gerrard says tackling retail crime is also about protecting employees.

He said: “They face abuse. They may face violence.

“The physical and mental scars don't leave them. They also don't leave their families, so I think the impact on my colleagues is huge.”

A recent report from the Retail Trust said that 45% of all retail workers are looking to move roles because of abuse and violence in the stores that they face.

Clodagh Stenson
BBC South Investigations

The desire of fans to "catch ‘em all" has turned Pokémon cards into valuable collectibles and a growing target for shoplifters.

Stores across the UK have reported thefts worth tens of thousands of pounds.

This year, a collectables shop in Warrington, Cheshire, estimated losses of £60,000 in Pokémon stock, while a retailer in Bournemouth, Dorset, lost £30,000 in a similar smash and grab.

Becky Ottery (pictured), owner of Eclectic Games in Reading, Berkshire, says the cards are small and “very valuable stock”, making them a target for shoplifters who steal to re-sell.

She sells a packet for £4.50, but it could contain cards worth tens or hundreds of pounds on online marketplaces.

To tackle the problem, she’s redesigned her shop layout, keeping Pokémon and other trading cards behind the till.

Becky says she has also seen a “spike” in thefts of miniature figures used in games such as Warhammer.

Anna Varle
South West home and social affairs correspondent

"We've had instances of us being pushed into fixtures and I've had someone drag me across the counter when I have refused to serve them."

Andrew Bond runs the Premier Store in Torquay, Devon, and is one of several shopkeepers in the South West who have said shoplifting has been a daily problem in recent years.

"We see our business as an extension of our home so it feels like people are invading our home when they are stealing from you," he said.

Devon and Cornwall Police said violence against shopworkers was increasing, but added that new reporting platforms had contributed to a significant rise in shoplifters being brought to justice.

You can find out more here.

Alex Bish
South East Investigations

A shop owner has said she locks her doors during opening hours and customers have to ring a bell to enter the shop - due to the impact of retail crime.

Paige Mengers (pictured), who runs a designer boutique in Surrey, has been describing how she feels shop crime has become more organised.

Mengers told the BBC she has boosted security after a raid in January 2025 involving men with wire cutters.

She said: "One barricaded the door, the other came in and cut the wires on the bags and stole quite a lot of them.

"It was absolutely awful. I lost two very good members of staff who were terrified after that.

"We were really shaken and for about six months I had security on the doors for our staff."

Louise Fewster
Reporter, BBC Radio York

One of the areas of concern for police is the impact violent shoplifting has on small businesses and female retail staff working alone.

Independent DIY store Barnitts in York has had to bring in extra measures such as CCTV and security tags.

Department manager Sally Ashton (pictured) says: "It is a challenge to deal with it, and it is a fighting battle.

“Along with the cost of living and the increase in wages, it’s having a massive impact on businesses.”

Find out more here or listen below.

Nicola Rees
BBC West Yorkshire

Shopkeepers in Leeds say they have been left feeling frustrated due to the frequency of shoplifting becoming "out of control".

In the city centre, a variety of businesses say they are being targeted by thieves and there is little they can do to stop them.

Dion Smith (pictured), who owns a jewellery workshop in the Corn Exchange, explains he keeps his products in locked display cabinets - although that has not deterred shoplifters.

"Over the past five to 10 years, it has just got out of control. People know there's no consequences," he says.

West Yorkshire Police described a perception that petty theft would not be investigated as "misinformation".

Anna Varle
South West home and social affairs correspondent

It is an offence which can be violent, blatant and carried out by those who have a complete disregard for the law.

Devon and Cornwall Police also describe shoplifting as a "gateway" crime which can lead to escalating behaviour by offenders.

In the video below officers describe how they hope new laws can strength enforcement.

You can find out more here.

Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online

A department store owner has said shoplifting costs his store between £30,000 and £100,000 a year.

David Austin, of Austins in Newton Abbot, Devon, which was founded in 1924, said: "The ones who do it you might say 'professionally' - where they just steal to sell on - they're the worst ones.

"Last week we had a theft that was about £700 by two people.

"They were very nice. They spoke to our staff, they conned us, and they walked out with the merchandise."

More than 60 stores in the town have radios, with staff warning others about known shoplifters in the area, according to Mr Austin.

The town also has more than 140 CCTV cameras which can be used to track shoplifters.

"It gives our staff a feeling of security too, and that's really important," he said.

"It may be difficult to understand, but they don't want to be stressed out thinking who's the next shoplifter all the time.

"They've got to feel relaxed and looking after 99.9% of our customers who are lovely, honest people."

Louise Hobson
BBC North East & Cumbria

Shop owner Stephen Tate (pictured) explains the measures his business has taken to deal with shoplifting, which he calls an “epidemic”.

Some shelves at Addison Newsagents, on Church Road, in Stockton-on-Tees, have reduced stock supplies, a deliberate bid to stop items being stolen.

"This is what it's come to: we've had to put a sign up, we sell multiple packs but we only put one out on show."

Higher value items, such as tea and coffee, had been moved closer to the till and away from the door, he added.

Stephen and his partner Julie have run the business for 38 years and, at 64, he is now looking to retire.

Shoplifting is "out of control across the board on the high street", he says.

However, he adds he feels very safe in the shop.

"We've been here 38 years and we've had no serious incidents," he says. "Nobody's threatened us with anything, just been a bit verbal.

"They push you about a bit and grab you by the collar, a bit of rough and tumble."

Alex Bish
South East Investigations

Shop workers and security staff have been describing the physical and verbal abuse some are facing to highlight the impact on frontline retail workers.

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) says employees have been assaulted, threatened with a knife, spat at and had tins of food thrown at them.

The government says it is making it a specific criminal offence to assault a retail worker.

Gillian Paterson, a union rep from Sussex, tells BBC South East: "No-one should feel afraid to go to work.

"We just hope this new law will hopefully reduce the amount of offending and the amount of abuse staff get".

Laurissa Woolgar (pictured), a shop manager in Canterbury, Kent, adds: "I've been spat at before. It's really upsetting.

"It just makes you not trust quite a lot of people you would normally.

"It's really difficult - you just don't need the abuse."

Ema Sabljak
England Data Unit

We know there have been more than 500,000 recorded shoplifting crimes across England and Wales in 2025-26.

Violence against retailers and shoplifting are often mentioned in the same breath, but it is a different crime in the eyes of the police.

While shoplifting is down slightly year-on-year, robbery of business has nearly doubled from 15,336 in 2024-25 to 29,355 in 2025-26.

In addition to theft, robbery of business includes either violence or a threat of violence.

Last year, the Home Office issued guidance to forces to ensure that crime was recorded separately to shoplifting – likely a factor behind the increase.

Despite the rise, robbery of business remains the less-recorded crime.

It accounts for just 6% of the joint total of the two offence types, with 29,355 recorded crimes last financial year.

Image source, Getty Images

In some smaller local shops, baby formula is now being kept behind the counter to prevent thefts.

But other retailers are introducing different security measures to thwart shoplifters increasingly working in gangs to steal everyday essentials.

North Yorkshire retail worker Tracy says shops are having to constantly adapt their approach as thieves find new ways to take products without paying.

Some deterrents include tagging baby formula and displaying pictures of products at the till so customers have to ask staff for them.

She said: “We are trying every angle to try and prevent, make it difficult; not just come in and fill that bag.

“But the shoplifters get sly and they don't just work on their own, sometimes they work in gangs.”

Tracy says motivation for shoplifting varies.

While some people steal to provide for their families, others resell stolen goods for cash or use the proceeds to fund drug habits, she says.

It comes as the BBC has found the number of shoplifting offences across North Yorkshire remains above pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, but it has dropped over recent years.

Zoe Applegate
BBC News

Image source, Mariam Issimdar/BBC

A chief constable warns that planned cuts to short-term sentences risk leaving prolific shoplifters free to reoffend.

Paul Sanford, the Chief Constable of Norfolk, is concerned it risks removing the only period when prolific offenders are not actively stealing.

Adequate alternatives need to be found, he says, when the planned early release scheme for some prisoners comes into operation.

“I acknowledge that short-term sentences aren't always successful in preventing offending, but, of course, when someone's in prison, that offending does stop,” says Sanford.

“As those sentences are removed, we need to see something adequate, something meaningful, and something quick that replaces it.”

Sanford says offending by prolific shoplifters is often driven by drug and alcohol abuse and their addictions need to be treated to stop their criminal behaviour.

“We need adequately resourced support services for these individuals,” he says.

Alex Bish
South East Investigations

A national police intelligence unit has spent the last two years working with retailers and police forces to try to join up the dots to build a picture of organised crime groups targeting stores in different areas.

Jim Taylor, a former detective chief superintendent who previously led the unit, said: "We've uncovered organised crime groups responsible for millions of pounds of theft.

"One of our cases impacted across 30 police forces with 57 different officers dealing with that group."

Stephanie Coombes, head of intelligence, said it was about enhancing co-operation between forces to target criminals operating in different parts of the country.

"Where we have individual offences, often another police force won't know that another force is suffering the same offenders, so that collaborative response is much more effective."

Lauren Woodhead
England Data Unit

Here's some more of what we learned when we asked police to tell us about the shoplifting suspects who they had linked to the most offences between 2020-21 and 2025-26.

The highest number for one person was 247. That was in Sussex, where last year alone 10 people were linked to 169 offences.

Across all 27 forces who responded, 270 people were together linked to 28,415 offences. We know that in 2025-26 more than half of shoplifting investigations were complete with no suspect found.

Excluding these crimes, the 270 people were linked to 5% of recorded shoplifting offences.

That means that just 0.0008% of the population was connected to 5% of crimes with a suspect identified.

Ema Sabljak
England Data Unit

Image source, Metropolitan Police

At the height of his offending, Jeff Ashman estimated he walked out of shops with goods worth £400 to £500 on a daily basis.

"It's mind-boggling," he said, describing how much he had stolen from stores in Hastings to fuel his addiction to heroin and crack cocaine.

"I know the misery and grief and despair that I have caused these people for a long period of time," he said.

Shoplifting is now firmly in the past for Ashman, but prolific shoplifters like him continue to plague communities across England.

We asked police about the 10 suspects their forces had most often linked to shoplifting offences between 2020-21 and 2025-26.

It revealed 28,415 recorded offences had been linked to just 270 suspects by the 27 forces which shared data with us.

That is an average of 105 offences per person - and those are just the occasions where a theft was formally reported to police and officers identified a suspect.

• Prolific shoplifters behind more than 28,000 offences, BBC finds

Alex Bish
South East Investigations

Recorded shoplifting offences in England and Wales remain above pre-pandemic levels, but Policing Minister Sarah Jones (pictured) says “we have turned that corner” after a drop in the latest annual figures.

“We are starting to make progress and there has been a 4% dip this year, but we all know there is a lot further that we need to go and a lot more we need to do,” she said.

The Home Office said a small number of prolific offenders were driving a huge share of retail crime.

It said: “Often they have drug addictions or other challenges that need to be addressed. But they need to know that they are going to be punished for what they have done.

“We are looking at what we can do with that cohort of persistent offenders, how do we make sure they get the punishment they need, maybe the drug treatment that they need and, if they’re not in prison, how are we making sure they’re not coming into these shops.”