Shoplifting offences soar to 1,200 a day

But just 1in 10 culprits charged

- Paul Jeeves

THE shoplifting epidemic hit a record high with 430,104 offences logged by police last year.

That is up 37% on the 315,040 recorded in the previous 12 months to December 2022.

There are around 1,200 offences committed every day - yet the number of cases being solved has slumped to a new low of just 10% down from a high of 27.7% in 2016.

The total of shoplifting incidents is the highest since records began in 2003 and worse than the previous record in 2018 by 50,000.

Corrosive