Shoplifting offences rise to highest level since records began: Store thefts jump by more than a THIRD compared to 2022 - with 430,104 offences recorded in last 12 months, figures show

Shoplifting has risen to the highest level on record amid complaints the crime has been effectively 'decriminalised', new data revealed today. The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003 This is the moment two shoplifters brazenly steal products from a Boots store just yards from a police station - as helpless staff watch on The pair can be seen chucking products from the shelves into big black sports bags at the store on Station Road, Chingford Separate data suggests a similar - and often worse - situation in the rest of the country, with forces sending out and officer for just one in five calls related to shoplifting. This security-protected bar of Dairy Milk Wholenut was seen at a Co-op in Codsall in Staffordshire Police recorded crime data for England and Wales shows offences involving theft from the person stood at 125,563 in 2023, up nearly a fifth from 106,606 in 2022, and is the highest level since 2004. Commenting on the latest crime figures, Nick Stripe of the Office for National Statistics said: 'In the past 12 months, police recorded crime shows notable increases in robbery, theft from the person and shoplifting. Shoplifting grandmother Rachel McKee, 51, tried to frame a village postmaster and his wife as gun-runners and child abusers after she was banned from their store The thief made 11 false reports of child abuse to social services, which led to the couple's daughter being taken out of class and questioned Earlier this year the store revealed an improvement in the police response but said forces were still failing to attend in 40 per cent of cases when a suspect had been detained.