Food campaigners steal from Hastings supermarket

There has been a rise in shoplifting crimes in the South East

A campaign group has admitted to stealing food from a shop in East Sussex to donate to food banks.

Luke Swithland, a member of Everybody Eats, said the group shoplifted from a supermarket in Hastings as "food banks are closing because they're not getting enough donations".

Sussex Police said it was aware of a shoplifting incident in Hastings on Saturday.

The British Retail Consortium said: "Shoplifting is not a victimless crime and the £1.8bn cost of retail theft pushes up prices for everyone."

Mr Swithland, who is 31 and from Leicester, told BBC Radio Sussex he "felt ok" about shoplifting.

"We're not hurting anyone," he said.

"The only thing we're hurting is the profits of these corporations that are making billions of profits every year."

The number of shoplifting offences leading to a prosecution has fallen in parts of the South East over the last five years, despite a rise in recorded crimes.

"We're not causing any trouble and we're not going to be aggressive to any staff at all," Mr Swithland said.

'They're desperate'

It is not known which supermarket in Hastings the group stole from and which food bank received the goods.

Asked if food banks were happy to receive stolen goods, Mr Swithland said: "It's got to the point now where they're desperate - donations are down, but demand is higher."

The Trussell Trust, the UK's largest foodbank provider, said more food parcels were handed out than ever before in the past year.

On Tuesday, a food bank in Newhaven said it would not be able to help anymore families as its stock and finances were running low.

"Supermarkets aren't donating to food banks as much as they did," Mr Swithland added.

The British Retail Consortium said supporting charities was "very important to retailers".

"In the last year alone, more than £500m has been donated, including 69 million meals to those in need," a spokesperson said.

Sussex Police said enquiries were ongoing and asked anyone with information about the incident to contact them.