Shopworker risk as retail crime costs Scots £55m

SNP ministers have been accused of leaving shopworkers at the “mercy of brazen criminals” through a “relentless weakening” of the justice system, as a damning new report reveals retail crime is costing Scotland £55million a year.

- BY JOHN GLOVER

Scottish Conservative victims and community safety spokeswoman Sharon Dowey said the “soaring increase” in shoplifting was the direct result of offenders being routinely let off with a “slap on the wrist”.

The Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF) released its annual crime survey yesterday, which warned that theft and violence are “spiralling out of control”.