Shoplifters walk free from courts

MORE shoplifters were convicted in Greater Manchester than almost anywhere else in the country except London last year - but four out of five of them walked free from the courts.

- RICHARD AULT & NICOLE WOOTTON-CANE

Data shows Greater Manchester Police (GMP) convicted 2,011 shoplifters in 2023, giving them the third highest number in the country after the Metropolitan Police and West Yorkshire Police.

Shoplifting in the UK is currently at its highest rate since records began, with the equivalent of around 900 incidents every hour, amounting £1.8 to billion worth of goods stolen in 2023.

New figures from the Ministry of Justice show that the courts are getting tougher with shoplifters but in our region in 2023, just one fifth faced an immediate jail sentence, lower than the national average of 27.7 per cent.

That was the highest rate since available records began in 2010 when just 16.9% of shoplifters, or about one in six, were sent to prison.