Fury as shoplifting soars to record high with thieves ‘becoming bolder and more aggressive'
SHOPLIFTING offences have gone past half a million in a year for the first time.
A record 516,971 incidents were logged by police — up from 429,873 in 2023.
Yet only a fifth resulted in a charge while more than half of investigations ended with no suspect identified.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics came after a Sun investigation exposed the scale of shoplifting from Greggs.
We witnessed countless cases of thieves swiping baked and sweet treats from branches across the country — with staff powerless to intervene.
Tom Ironside, of the British Retail Consortium, said shoplifting was costing £2billion a year with rising violence and abuse against staff.
He added: 'While the ONS statistics show shoplifting at record levels, the figures severely underestimate the problem.
'They are equivalent to less than two incidents per shop per year. Shopkeepers will tell you they're lucky if a day goes by without a shoplifting incident.'
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: 'This Labour Government will not tolerate the criminality blighting our communities. That's why we're putting almost 3,000 more bobbies on the beat this year.'
But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'Law and order is taking a back seat under Labour.'
Meanwhile, 152,416 offences of theft from the person were recorded last year, up more than a fifth from 2023.
So far, at least 16,000 offenders have been let out of jail early as part of Labour's plan to free up space behind bars.
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The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Fair Work is still a distant dream for some of Scotland's arts sector
That's a lot. More than people realise and it is high time they were treated fairly. Our latest STUC report, Freelance and Forgotten, crashes open the stage door and draws back the curtain on Scotland's arts & culture sector. It paints a very different picture that the reality we dare to dream whilst getting lost in the dazzling performances of our favourite artists. It's a sector of exploitation, insecurity and systemic neglect. The voices of over 800 workers from across the sector were unequivocal: Fair Work is still a distant dream for most creative freelancers in Scotland. Read More It's cheap of Labour to pin the blame on migrants in dinghies It's time to offer hope - but we can't do it alone This is not a just war, it's terrorism and psychological warfare We have power to nationalise Scotland's bus services - so let's use it Fair Work is capitalised for a reason. I refer to the Scottish Government's Fair Work agenda whereby they – and unions too – hoped Scotland would become a leading Fair Work nation by 2025. Needless to say, we haven't. Not through lack of trying. Trade unions, including our creative unions like Equity, BECTU, the Musicians' Union and others, wholeheartedly support the Fair Work agenda. We want what every worker deserves: decent pay, secure contracts, safe workplaces and a voice on the job. But in the arts sector, this vision is being undermined by structural exploitation and a culture that too often ignores the basic rights and dignity of workers. Let's be clear: the creative industries in Scotland are not short of talent or value; they're just short of fairness. Our report reveals that 69% of freelance creatives have faced late payments with one third not being paid at all for work already completed. One respondent described waiting 10 months to be paid by a 'prestigious' university. Others described stolen artwork, ghosting by clients who don't respond to their requests for payment, and having to fight tooth and nail for basic compensation. In any other industry, this would be deemed unacceptable and the culprits named and shamed. In the arts, where word of mouth is often the best way to get your next gig, it's a by-product of a sector that's allowed exploitation to run rampant. It doesn't stop at pay. Oh no – this sorry chapter has many acts. Nearly 75% of freelance creatives told us they rarely or never have access to a clear and accessible complaints process. More than 50% have experienced bullying, harassment or sexual harassment. Shockingly, 46% reported losing work or income due to illness, bereavement, or maternity leave. Further, more shockingly, we've seen testimony of workers being offered work in exchange for sexual favours or being throttled and yelled at. This is the reality for many workers in our creative industries. Yet these conditions are a direct contradiction of the Scottish Government's commitment to Fair Work. The principle that everyone should have access to work that is secure, respectful and pays fairly is being flouted in a sector largely supported by public funding. The Scottish Government supports culture and the arts to the tune of £280m a year. Creative Scotland, our national funding body, disperses tens of millions of pounds each year. Yet our report makes clear that the oversight, monitoring and enforcement of Fair Work standards is virtually non-existent for freelance workers. Too often, freelancers are treated as disposable and expected to deliver world-class work under poverty conditions, without contracts, sick pay, or any of the employment rights unions fight for day in and day out. These are skilled professionals, not cheap labour. They are lighting designers, playwrights, actors, musicians, choreographers, technicians and more. Without them, the spotlights will dim, the orchestra will fall silent and, despite the adage, the show literally cannot go on. So let's raise the standards as we raise the curtain. We need funding conditions that are tied explicitly to Fair Work standards for freelancers. This means organisations receiving public money must adopt the STUC's Fair Work for Freelancers Checklist, recognise unions as the legitimate voice of workers and work with unions to create binding Fair Work Agreements. Our report also calls for Creative Scotland to be given a specific remit to support workers and monitor fair practice within funded organisations. We need to end the culture of silence and fear. A third of workers surveyed had signed non-disclosure agreements that silenced them about their work. One respondent described being forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement just to be paid, only to discover the contract banned them from even showing their work in their portfolio. Another told us of being harassed while an entire crew looked on and said nothing. In any other industry, there would be uproar. In the arts, too many are afraid to speak out for fear of being blacklisted. That is the personification of a power imbalance. Powerful producers, directors, showrunners and more keep workers in a state of silence and fear for worrying about where they may get their next gig. That must end. As should the awful, derisory levels of pay. More than 80% of respondents reported a real terms fall in earnings, with many struggling to earn even £10,000 a year despite years of experience. Equal pay remains a fiction, with women and marginalised groups consistently paid less than male counterparts for the same work. These issues don't only impact on the workers themselves. They impact on what we see on our screens, on the stage and in our galleries. Working class artists are being driven out of the industry. If Scotland's art and culture is left to those with income and wealth to fall back on, then it won't reflect who we are as a nation. As we turn up the lights on this sorry saga of exploitation, let's do so in the hope that our freelancers and our creatives can secure decent levels of funding to support their aspirations and realise their creative vision. Fair pay is central to that and the Scottish Government has rightly set high expectations around Fair Work. Now is the time to deliver on those promises. Roz Foyer is general secretary of the STUC
Edinburgh Live
5 hours ago
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh's bitter gangland feud linked back to a decades-old £20k drug heist
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A gangland feud broke out in Edinburgh earlier this year, though tensions have been brewing for decades. The 'wars', which saw homes firebombed and gunshots fired, began in the capital back in March - since spreading across the central belt. According to the Daily Record, the feud dates back to 2001. Just as Tony Blair won his second term for Labour, and the first Harry Potter movie was due for release, a different kind of plot was unfolding at Milton housing scheme in Glasgow. A large stash of cocaine worth about £20,000 belonging to the feared Daniel crime family had been stolen from a safe house on the estate that summer. It had gone missing at a house party at the address. The drugs -unsurprisingly - were not returned or paid for. The Daniel family then learned the drugs had either been sold to or -appropriated by a rival organised crime group, the Lyons. At the time both were battling for control of the drugs trade on the north side of the city. Head of the Daniel family was the formidable Jamie Daniel, one of four brothers from the city's Possilpark. On the other side the Lyons were led by Eddie Lyons snr. He ran a community centre called Chirnsyde in Milton. It was claimed a group based there called the Club Boys - which included his son Steven - had orchestrated the theft. In the organised crime world a drugs debt, no matter how small, must be paid. Failure to do so can result in a loss of face. Jamie Daniel knew that. A wave of attacks by the Daniels followed as they fought to maintain their control of the area's drugs trade. The response was orchestrated by 24-year-old Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll - an up-and-coming figure in the Daniel clan close to Jamie Daniel and in a relationship with his daughter Kelly. First, the Daniel crew tried to shoot Steven Lyons outside a pub in -Lambhill, Glasgow, in September 2001 - but the gunman missed. They then turned their -attention to the Chirnsyde centre. It was torched causing £30,000 of damage and had its minibus trashed. Carroll was in turn blasted twice in the leg with a sawn-off shotgun outside his mum's house in Milton in January 2003 but survived. Just 11 days later, Eddie Lyons's brother Johnny, 49, was shot outside his home in nearby Stornoway Street. The wallet in his back pocket took the impact and the doctors think that may have saved him. Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox In April 2006, as the feud continued, Carroll drove to Cumbernauld where he blasted another of Lyons's sons, Eddie Lyons jnr, at his door but failed to kill him. Then in November that year, Carroll allegedly used a tow rope to topple the headstone of Eddie snr's late son Garry, who was only eight when he died of leukaemia in 1991. The desecration of his grave marked a new low in the escalating conflict. Carroll had crossed a line but was still not satisfied. Two days later he ambushed and attempted to shoot Eddie Lyons jnr for a second time, in Bellshill, Lanarkshire. Lyons suffered minor injuries when his own car rolled over him. A henchman was hit with at least one round but survived. Eight days later the Lyons struck back when Carroll was shot along with a close associate Ross Sherlock in Clelland Avenue, a residential street in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow. Carroll suffered serious injuries as he was hit in the stomach from close range. Sherlock was hit in the legs. The violence culminated in one of the most brazen murders the city had ever seen. On Wednesday, December 6, 2006, a blue Mazda car drew up outside Applerow Motors in Balmore Road, Lambhill, shortly after 2pm. The garage was owned by David Lyons, brother of Eddie snr, and was operated by both him and his nephew Mark. Two men in black overcoats and "old men" face masks and brandishing handguns got out and opened fire in what was later described in court as being like a scene from The Godfather. Eleven shots were fired, leaving mechanic Michael Lyons dead, and his cousin Steven Lyons and Lyons -associate Robert Pickett, 41, seriously injured. Lyons was in plaster for up to 12 weeks with a broken leg and required part of a bullet to be removed from his back. Robert Pickett, who had served time for attempted murder, was left in a coma for a month and lost a kidney after being shot in the stomach. A bloody gangland feud which had largely been conducted in the shadows was now headline news. Two Daniel associates - Raymond Anderson, 46, and James McDonald, 34 - stood trial at the High Court in Glasgow in March 2008. The court heard David Lyons received a "ransom note" at his home after the murder demanding £25,000 - the current value of the allegedly stolen cocaine. It read: "The boys owe me £25,000 and I want what's owed to me. It's for drugs. They all know what it's about. The money doesn't matter to me as it's got to be paid to the piper." Lyons didn't pay the money and handed the letter to the police. The multiple shooting which lasted only a few minutes had taken place yards from a special needs school. (Image: Daily Record) Ironically the school was to be the venue for a public meeting for people to air their growing fears about rising crime and gangland violence in the area. Already concerns had been raised about the role of the Lyons in the running of Chirnsyde and the £1.4million in taxpayers' cash it had received over the years. The murderous events would lead to the closure of the centre and funding finally being withdrawn. High levels of security were put in place throughout the trial which finished in May 2008. The case was heard in court No3 - which has been designed for terrorist accused - and people entering had to pass through a metal detector and police checks. Both Anderson and McDonald were convicted of illegal possession of guns and ammunition, the attempted murder of Steven Lyons and Robert Pickett, and Michael Lyons's murder. They had been heard in secret conversations taped by police talking about the "piper" mentioned in the letter sent to David Lyons. At the time Campbell Corrigan was a detective superintendent with Strathclyde Police and was in charge of the Applerow murder investigation. He became aware of the Daniel clan influence as far back as the 80s when he was a young detective in Govan, Glasgow and saw their rise to power in the city as he built his own career. Campbell retired in 2013. He was the force's last chief constable before Police Scotland was formed. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. He told the Record: "The victim Michael Lyons was an innocent member of the family who just got caught in the Crossfire. "I was aware of the connection with Gerbil to Jamie Daniel's daughter and he directed a lot of the violence that had occurred. When you think of the Lyons on one side and the Daniels on the other side, it is a pretty long-running Glasgow feud." He also described how his team had to overcome "fear in the community" over speaking out about both the Lyons and Daniel families. He added: "These were guys not to be trifled with. It will take a very concerted effort before you are able to undermine them." After the jury's verdict, judge Lord Hardie branded MichaelLyons's murder a "a cold-blooded, premeditated assassination". Lord Hardie ordered the men to serve 35 years each before they could be considered for parole, the highest tariff ever set by a Scottish court. The terms were reduced on appeal to 30. However if the judge thought the tough sentences would stop the carnage, he was mistaken. Less than two years later. Scotland would be shocked by a murder that took the long-running feud to -terrifying new levels.
Daily Record
10 hours ago
- Daily Record
How a drug theft sparked bloody gangland war between Daniels and Lyons
Decades of gangland war between the two families began with a cocaine theft in 2001. It was the summer of 2001 and Tony Blair had just won a second term in government for Labour. The movie version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was about to be released and The Life of Pi was the year's best-selling book. Over in the tough Milton housing scheme in Glasgow a plot of a different kind was unfolding. A large stash of cocaine worth about £20,000 belonging to the feared Daniel crime family had been stolen from a safe house on the estate that summer. It had gone missing at a house party at the address. The coke, unsurprisingly, was not returned or paid for. The Daniel family then learned the drugs had either been sold to or appropriated by a rival organised crime group, the Lyons. At the time both were battling for control of the drugs trade on the north side of the city. Head of the Daniel family was the formidable Jamie Daniel, one of four brothers from the city's Possilpark. On the other side the Lyons were led by Eddie Lyons snr. He ran a community centre called Chirnsyde in Milton. It was claimed a group based there called the Club Boys – which included his son Steven – had orchestrated the theft. In the organised crime world a drugs debt, no matter how small, must be paid. Failure to do so can result in a loss of face. Jamie Daniel knew that. A wave of attacks by the Daniels followed as they fought to maintain their control of the area's drugs trade. The response was orchestrated by 24-year-old Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll – an up-and-coming figure in the Daniel clan close to Jamie Daniel and in a relationship with his daughter Kelly. First, the Daniel crew tried to shoot Steven Lyons outside a pub in Lambhill, Glasgow, in September 2001 – but the gunman missed. They then turned their attention to the Chirnsyde centre. It was torched causing £30,000 of damage and had its minibus trashed. Carroll was in turn blasted twice in the leg with a sawn-off shotgun outside his mum's house in Milton in January 2003 but survived. Just 11 days later, Eddie Lyons's brother Johnny, 49, was shot outside his home in nearby Stornoway Street. The wallet in his back pocket took the impact and the doctors think that may have saved him. In April 2006, as the feud continued, Carroll drove to Cumbernauld where he blasted another of Lyons's sons, Eddie Lyons jnr, at his door but failed to kill him. Then in November that year, Carroll allegedly used a tow rope to topple the headstone of Eddie snr's late son Garry, who was only eight when he died of leukaemia in 1991. The desecration of his grave marked a new low in the escalating conflict. Carroll had crossed a line but was still not satisfied. Two days later he ambushed and attempted to shoot Eddie Lyons jnr for a second time, in Bellshill, Lanarkshire. Lyons suffered minor injuries when his own car rolled over him. A henchman was hit with at least one round but survived. Eight days later the Lyons struck back when Carroll was shot along with close associate Ross Sherlock in Clelland Avenue, a residential street in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow. Carroll suffered serious injuries as he was hit in the stomach from close range. Sherlock was hit in the legs. The violence culminated in one of the most brazen murders the city had ever seen. On Wednesday, December 6, 2006, a blue Mazda car drew up outside Applerow Motors in Balmore Road, Lambhill, shortly after 2pm. The garage was owned by David Lyons, brother of Eddie snr, and was operated by both him and his nephew Mark. Two men in black overcoats and 'old men' face masks and brandishing handguns got out and opened fire in what was later described in court as being like a scene from The Godfather. Eleven shots were fired, leaving mechanic Michael Lyons dead, and his cousin Steven Lyons and Lyons associate Robert Pickett, 41, seriously injured. Lyons was in plaster for up to 12 weeks with a broken leg and required part of a bullet to be removed from his back. Robert Pickett, who had served time for attempted murder, was left in a coma for a month and lost a kidney after being shot in the stomach. A bloody gangland feud which had largely been conducted in the shadows was now headline news. Two Daniel associates – Raymond Anderson, 46, and James McDonald, 34 – stood trial at the High Court in Glasgow in March 2008. The court heard David Lyons received a 'ransom note' at his home after the murder demanding £25,000 – the current value of the allegedly stolen cocaine. It read: 'The boys owe me £25,000 and I want what's owed to me. It's for drugs. They all know what it's about. The money doesn't matter to me as it's got to be paid to the piper.' Lyons didn't pay the money and handed the letter to the police. The multiple shooting which lasted only a few minutes had taken place yards from a special needs school. Ironically the school was to be the venue for a public meeting for people to air their growing fears about rising crime and gangland violence in the area. Already concerns had been raised about the role of the Lyons in the running of Chirnsyde and the £1.4million in taxpayers' cash it had received over the years. The murderous events would lead to the closure of the centre and funding finally being withdrawn. High levels of security were put in place throughout the trial which finished in May 2008. The case was heard in court No3 – which has been designed for terrorist accused – and people entering had to pass through a metal detector and police checks. Both Anderson and McDonald were convicted of illegal possession of guns and ammunition, the attempted murder of Steven Lyons and Robert Pickett, and Michael Lyons's murder. They had been heard in secret conversations taped by police talking about the 'piper' mentioned in the letter sent to David Lyons. At the time Campbell Corrigan was a detective superintendent with Strathclyde Police and was in charge of the Applerow murder investigation. He became aware of the Daniel clan influence as far back as the 80s when he was a young detective in Govan, Glasgow and saw their rise to power in the city as he built his own career. Campbell retired in 2013. He was the force's last chief constable before Police Scotland was formed. He told the Record: 'The victim Michael Lyons was an innocent member of the family who just got caught in the Crossfire. 'I was aware of the connection with Gerbil to Jamie Daniel's daughter and he directed a lot of the violence that had occurred. When you think of the Lyons on one side and the Daniels on the other side, it is a pretty long-running Glasgow feud.' He also described how his team had to overcome 'fear in the community' over speaking out about both the Lyons and Daniel families. He added: 'These were guys not to be trifled with. It will take a very concerted effort before you are able to undermine them.' After the jury's verdict, judge Lord Hardie branded MichaelLyons's murder a 'a cold-blooded, premeditated assassination'. Lord Hardie ordered the men to serve 35 years each before they could be considered for parole, the highest tariff ever set by a Scottish court. The terms were reduced on appeal to 30. However if the judge thought the tough sentences would stop the carnage, he was mistaken. Less than two years later Scotland would be shocked by a murder that took the long-running feud to terrifying new levels. Tomorrow: We tell how the feud reaches a new and terrifying level when a high-level Daniel gang member is shot dead in a busy supermarket car park in front of shoppers and their young children. We also tell how two men stand trial for the brazen lunchtime murder with one sensationally walking free.
