Retail leaders have condemned the growing delays in bringing shoplifters to justice, after new figures revealed that there is a considerable time gap in offenders getting sentenced compared with a decade ago.
Data obtained by the BBC shows the average time for a shoplifting case to progress from offence to completion in magistrates’ courts in England and Wales has risen by more than 80 per cent over 10 years from 32 days in 2014 to 59 days in 2024.
The issue has been highlighted by a recent case in which retailers were left waiting up to 10 months for a prolific thief to be sentenced.
Industry bodies say long delays are pushing many retailers to lose faith in the justice system, with some feeling it is pointless to report offences that are unlikely to be dealt with swiftly.
Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said the mounting delays “add insult to injury” for small shops battling rising theft.
“It is no surprise many small shop owners simply do not bother reporting the crime in the first place. In their minds it makes no difference,” he said.
The most serious shop thefts can end up being heard at crown court where figures show the average time from the offence to cases being completed has increased from 111 days in 2016 to 128 days in 2024.
Retail groups warn that unless sentencing times improve and enforcement becomes more consistent, shop crime will continue to escalate while confidence in the system erodes further.
According to a recent report in BBC, a female offender was on a crime spreee, stealing £2,000 worth of Jellycat plush toys across four stores in the south west of England and one in Wales. She later sold the goods on Vinted.
Shop staff were forced to piece together her identity themselves after struggling to secure timely police support.
However, the stores targeted by a thief waited up to 10 months for a shoplifter to be sentenced, despite retail workers piecing together her identity without help from the police.
In July, the offender was sentenced to a 12-month community order at Newton Abbot Magistrates Court after admitting stealing from five shops across Devon, Somerset, Dorset and South Wales in September and October last year.
She was also ordered to pay nearly £1,800 in compensation.
"The delays in bringing perpetrators to court really does add insult to injury," BBC quoted Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, as saying.
"It is no surprise many small shop owners simply do not bother reporting the crime in the first place. In their minds it makes no difference."
According to the figures by Office for National Statistics (ONS), shoplifting has increased by 13 per cent in the last year with 529,994 shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales up to June 2025, .
However, the ONS said there are signs that increasing rates of shops thefts being reported are now slowing.
The crime adds an estimated £133 onto the cost of an average UK household's shopping bill each year, according to the Centre for Retail Research.