Organised criminals are behind the recent rise in shoplifting and violence against shop workers rather than people stealing to survive, one of the UK’s largest grocery chains has told a parliamentary inquiry.
Paul Gerrard, the public affairs director at the Co-op, told the House of Lords justice and home affairs committee into shoplifting that a 44% rise in retail crime it experienced last year was mostly down to gangs stealing to order at scale – clearing shelves in some cases.
