Crime groups shoplifting 'to sell at car boots'

Det Ch Insp Christian O'Brien oversees a team dedicated to tackling shoplifters in the north of Cambridgeshire

Organised crime groups are shoplifting to order and selling the goods at car boot sales, it has emerged.

Cambridgeshire Police officers have set up a dedicated team to target the thieves in Peterborough and Fenland, and they have made nearly 100 arrests since July.

Det Ch Insp Christian O'Brien has warned people that if they "see large amounts of goods at vastly reduced prices, just to consider it may have come from shop theft".

He acknowledged some shops felt "as though there's no point in reporting things to us", but he asked them to tell police so officers can target offenders.

Retailers have said shoplifting has been "spiralling out of control", with the crime at its highest level in England and Wales since current records began more than two decades ago.

Cambridgeshire Police set up the Northern Spree Offender team to target who they believe to be a small number of offenders committing the majority of crimes.

It follows the success of a dedicated unit in the south of the county, where about 250 charges have been brought since the team's inception.

Joshua Beeston, seen putting chocolate into his jacket, has been jailed

One of their successes has been catching Joshua Beeston, who was jailed for 18 weeks for his month-long spree of shop thefts.

They included one occasion where he took £96 worth of coffee, but in others he stole meat, medication and Red Bull.

When the BBC joined the team for a day in Peterborough, the plain-clothed officers arrested two people - one who was wanted for shoplifting and another suspected of stealing a handbag from River Island.

The team looks at crime logs, speaks to businesses and the public as part of their job. They are "relentlessly looking for those that are committing crime to try and stop that from happening and make the county a safer place for people to live, work and visit," said Det Ch Insp O'Brien.

The Northern Spree Offender team arrested two unrelated suspects near to each other on the day the BBC joined them

Emma Lilley, from the Peterborough Businesses Improvement District, has been working as a link between businesses and the Northern Spree Offender team to assist in catching offenders, including helping retailers report crime.

"We are in a bit of an epidemic with shoplifting now," she said.

"There are some businesses who will experience multiple thefts that don't report it.

"Some [shops] haven't got the time to report online because it does take about 15-20 minutes if you do a good quality crime report.

"If you're having multiple shoplifting a day, and in some stores you have one person working in there, maybe two, in order to try to find the time to do that, that's how they're struggling."

The unit was set up after the success of a previous team in the south of Cambridgeshire

Det Ch Insp O'Brien said those who shoplifted ranged from people with addiction to organised criminality.

"What we'll find is that when goods are stolen to order on behalf of organised crime, quite often those goods will end up for sale at car boots and various places like that.

"If people are out buying goods that are cheaper than what they might find in the shop at car boots, then it could be a sign that this has come from organised crime and shoplifting.

"I would encourage members of the public, if they are at locations where they see large amounts of goods at vastly reduced prices, just to consider it may have come from shop theft initially."