Shoplifter banned from every Greggs for raiding same shop seven times
A shoplifter has been banned from every Greggs in England and Wales after raiding the same shop seven times.
Patrick Verry, 33, was caught stealing from a branch of the pastry shop on Wood Green High Road, in north London, on May 15.
He pleaded guilty to six counts of theft at Highbury Corner magistrates' court the following day.
It comes as the latest official figures show more than 500,000 shoplifting offences were reported to police in one year for the first time.
In another investigation, the Met Police arrested a 44-year-old man who stole more than £2,500 worth of goods from stores over four months.
Winston Wright was banned from entering any Sainsbury's, Boots and Co-op in England and Wales for three years under a criminal order.
He was also banned from entering the Royal Borough of Greenwich for three years, jailed for three months and fined £200.
Wright pleaded guilty to eight counts of shoplifting and one count of commercial burglary at Croydon magistrates' court on May 6.
Officers gathered CCTV from various stores during the investigation which helped identify Wright as the offender.
Chief Insp Rav Pathania, the Met Police's lead for tackling retail crime, said: 'The Met is focused on tackling the most prolific shoplifters like Wright and Verry. They cause fear to retail workers and their offending has a negative impact on communities.
'We continue to work with local business owners to investigate reports of shoplifting, understand concerns and use different tactics to crackdown, including targeted operations and regular patrols.'
Shoplifting incidents cost corner shops £316 million last year, according to the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), with 6.2 million thefts recorded, up from 5.6 million the prior year.
Stores also faced more than 59,000 incidents of violence and 1.2 million incidents of verbal abuse.
A total of 516,971 shoplifting offences were logged by forces last year, up 20 per cent from 429,873 in 2023, and equivalent to more than two offences a minute, based on average store opening hours.
James Lowman, the ACS chief executive, previously told The Telegraph: 'The levels of theft, abuse and violence experienced by retailers over the last year makes for shocking reading, but it will not surprise our members who are living it on a daily basis.
In May, it was revealed that food retailers have seen a 'massive' increase in pensioner shoplifters over the last year, according to Kingdom Security.
John Nussbaum, director of service for retail at Kingdom Security, said his staff were seeing a 'different sort of shoplifter now' as the cost of living 'pushes people to something they've never done before'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
35 minutes ago
- The Sun
Moment thugs use huge STICKS & baseball bats as weapons as brawl erupts on busy high street in broad daylight
THIS is the moment a brawl between thugs armed with sticks broke out in the middle of a busy road. At least five men were involved in the attack which took place on Station Road in Harrow, London. 3 3 Shocking footage shows the men punching and hitting each other with lumps of wood. Standing on the island of a busy crossing in front of rows of shops, the men push each other into the road, blocking a bus. In the intense video two men dressed in tracksuits can be seen getting into a punch up with three other hooded thugs as they attacked each other with bats. One man was being rugby tackled to the ground when a police van showed up and the thugs reportedly ran away. Footage begins as the men are already involved in the fight, wielding large sticks as they repeatedly hit one another. As the fighting continues the group breaks up as footage clearly shows two of the boys getting into a fist fight. Meanwhile, the three remaining boys get in the way of a police van as they are pushed into the road. Despite one of the boys having been knocked to the ground, they quickly get their footing and run away from the police. As soon as the two boys still fighting notice the police car, they also quickly run away. The three boys run in the same direction, while the other two disperse in the opposite direction. Locals responded to the incident with concern for Harrow's youth population. One said: 'What happened to youth clubs?' While another added: ' Harrow used to be okay. 'Never realised you can now watch amateur UFC uncaged there. 'Great idea for getting youths off the streets, causing trouble.' A third person said: 'Those two lads just standing there punching each other and then both stopping at the same time to run once the police arrived was hilarious to see.' Some used the opportunity to express disappointment at their poor fighting technique. Others didn't express much concern at all, as one said: 'Hate to say it but the two lads at the end were having a good scrap, no harm in it I suppose.' None of the boys seemed particularly affected by the fight. The Sun has approached the Metropolitan Police for comment.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Gang steal £250,000 worth of luxury handbags after tunneling into designer boutique through a wall
Thieves climbed through a chimney and dug a hole in the wall to steal £250,000 worth of luxury handbags from a designer boutique. The owner of Dress Cheshire has spoken of her devastation after the gang of three men broke into her store at New Road in Prestbury, Cheshire on Sunday night. They are thought to have entered a disused building adjacent to the shop an hour before the burglary and created a hole in the wall. Police say the trio then gained access to the store through the chimney area. Officers are currently trying to track down the culprits and the stolen bags. Speaking on social media, Dress Cheshire manager Christine Colbert said a gang had gained entry by 'boring a 1m x 0.5m wide hole through the wall which took over an hour to drill'. Fighting back tears, Ms Colbert added: 'I'm absolutely devastated. They've stolen our beautiful handbags to the value of a quarter of a million pounds. 'This is a very serious crime for Cheshire Police. There were three men. This was very well planned and organised.' The luxury boutique owner also praised Cheshire Police for arriving 'within minutes'. Detective Constable Clare Slattery, of Macclesfield CID (criminal investigation department), said: 'Our enquiries are ongoing, and we would urge anyone who witnessed this incident or saw anything suspicious to get in touch with us. 'The same goes for anyone with dashcam footage or CCTV which might aid our investigation. 'We also want to hear from anyone who thinks they may have information regarding the whereabouts of the items that were stolen.' Customers and local householders have since offered their condolences to Ms Colbert in the aftermath of the 'absolutely awful' burglary. Beverley Watson said: 'Wow, can't believe they went to such lengths to gain entry and steal your handbags 'Thank goodness they didn't come though the door in business hours, and that you and your staff are safe. 'I know this is little comfort considering the hard work Dress Cheshire requires on your part. Take care.' Lisa O'Nions added: 'There are no words Christine Colbert we are so so sorry that this has happened to you and your beautiful shop again! 'As others have commented we are just glad that you and the staff are safe and ok. Sending all our love to you all at Dress Cheshire.' And Sally Williams said: 'So so sorry to hear this Christine absolutely awful, sending love and for all those concerned. Can only imagine how shook up you are.' News of the theft comes as MailOnline analysis earlier this year revealed streets lined with designer shops and multi-million pound homes prove to be the biggest burglary hotspots in England and Wales. The sector built around Regent Street in London, one of the capital's most famed areas because of its breadth of shops and restaurants, recorded 282 break-ins last year. Home to just 2,280 residents, in-depth analysis suggested that particular block, which includes Oxford Street, New Bond Street, Carnaby Street and Saville Row, saw 123 burglaries for every 1,000 people.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
M&S website resumes online orders six weeks after cyber-attack
Marks & Spencer has reopened its website to shoppers, six weeks after it was forced to halt online orders after a cyber-attack. The retailer said on its website that customers 'can now place online orders with standard delivery to England, Scotland and Wales'. Deliveries to Northern Ireland 'will resume in the coming weeks'. 'We will resume click and collect, next-day delivery, nominated-day delivery and international ordering in the coming weeks,' it said. The retailer is estimated to have been losing about £25m in online clothing and homewares sales a week after it was forced to stop taking orders on its website within days of 'threat actors', thought to be a hacking collective known as Scattered Spider, gaining access to its systems over the Easter weekend. The company expects the hack to cost it up to £300m in profits this year, although about half of that is expected to be offset by insurance and other measures. It has previously said disruption to its website could last until July, and some online services are not expected to restart immediately. Shoppers have been able to browse online, as well as shop in M&S's physical stores using cash or cards for most of the period since the hack. However, stocks of food and clothing in stores have also been affected, meaning that M&S has lost out during a busy period for retailers as a warm, sunny spring has driven an unexpected rise in household spending. M&S has also admitted that some personal information relating to thousands of customers – including names, addresses, dates of birth and order histories – was taken in the cyber-attack. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Stuart Machin, the chief executive of M&S, has said he expects the retailer to recover 'at pace' helped by bringing forward investment in its IT systems and website as part of the systems rebuild forced on it by the hackers. The attack on M&S emerged days before cyber-attacks were reported by the Co-op and Harrods. More recently, the sportswear brand Adidas and the lingerie group Victoria's Secret have also been targeted.
