Waitrose is under attack by aggressive organized crime gangs, its boss says

Last month, a 48-year-old man was given a two-year suspended prison sentence after hitting a shop worker in the face with a tin can after being kicked out of a Waitrose in Buxton.

Derby Crown Court heard how James Hudson was asked to leave the store by a store worker on August 8 last year.

Hudson left, but as he did he told him, “You better watch yourself when you leave work.”

The court heard that three days later he approached the victim, who was leaving work, and followed him as he unleashed a “barrage of abuse”.

Hudson then stepped back and struck the victim with “full force” with a pint-sized can of liquid in his hand, causing a cut to the frightened worker’s lower lip and chin.

He then called his phone and into it said: “I’ve got a boy who needs to be sorted out, I’ll give you £5,000 to come and shoot him.”

Hudson had already been convicted seven times for eighteen crimes, including assault, assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage. In 2013, Hudson was jailed for six years, the court heard.

Shoplifting at the highest level in 20 years

It comes after the Office for National Statistics published data in July showing that the number of shoplifting incidents recorded by police in England and Wales had risen to a new 20-year high.

A total of 443,995 offenses were recorded in the year to March 2024, a 30 per cent increase on the 342,428 in the previous twelve months.

The government has pledged to tackle low-level shoplifting and make assaulting a shop worker a specific criminal offence.

Speaking at the Labor conference in September, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, reiterated the party’s pledge to crack down on retail crime.

She said: “This Labor Government will introduce new powers on anti-social behaviour, shoplifting and off-road cycling and reinvigorate community policing.

“After years of Co-op and Usdaw campaigns, this Labor government will introduce a new law against attacks on shop workers, because everyone has the right to work in freedom from fear.”

The new offense carries a maximum sentence of six months.

Offenders can also receive an unlimited fine and be banned from the store where they committed the offense.

Serial offenders could be forced to wear tags so their movements can be tracked and £50 million will be spent on facial recognition technology.

Special facial recognition units will be used in shopping streets to catch perpetrators and prevent shoplifting. The police have been instructed to check more camera images in police databases.

In more serious cases, offenders found guilty of grievous bodily harm face a prison sentence.

But anyone convicted of the new crime would not routinely go to prison.

The sentencing bill, currently before parliament, would see sentences of 12 months or less suspended and served in the community, although a prison sentence could be imposed in exceptional circumstances.