Waitrose boss reveals high-value item that brazen shoplifting gang were looking for

Brazen shoplifters looking for a brand of gin warned Waitrose staff they would return when it was back in stock.

The supermarket’s boss, Dame Sharon Lewis, says organised gangs are stealing high-value items to order – and described the trend as “profoundly shocking”.

Dame Sharon – chair of the John Lewis Partnership – has previously warned retail crime is reaching “epidemic levels”, with the business facing a £12m hit from shoplifting.

Incidents rose by 25% in the year to June, according to police data for England and Wales released last week.

Speaking to the Policy Exchange think tank, Dame Sharon said: “It feels in the last year we have moved from ‘I’m going to put an extra six eggs in my basket, I haven’t paid for them but actually my family’s struggling’ to organised gangs shoplifting to order in a way that I have found profoundly shocking.

“I was in a store a few weeks ago and they spoke about a gang coming into the store and they were after a particular brand of gin, and we were sold out … They said: ‘Don’t worry we will be back on Monday because we know you’re going to be replenished over the weekend.'”

Her comments came after the government announced the launch of a new national intelligence unit to tackle organised shoplifting gangs.

Thirteen major retailers – including Tesco, the Co-op, John Lewis and Marks and Spencer – are contributing £60,000 over two years, and the Home Office £30,000, to fund the new squad.

Police also made renewed commitments to attend the scene of more shoplifting incidents where there is violence or security staff have stopped a suspect.

Read more from Sky News:
British TikTok star jailed after trying to smuggle cocaine out of Peru
Pilot ‘was on magic mushrooms’ when he tried to shut down plane’s engines

Dame Sharon said that while there has been “more conversation” and “good intent”, this hasn’t made any “material impact on the ground” yet.

She told the audience that a poor police response to shoplifting – as well as home burglaries and car break-ins – represented a “profound break in the social contract”.

Dame Sharon has backed the introduction of a law in England and Wales that would make it a specific crime to attack or abuse a shop worker – similar to legislation enforced in Scotland.

The former Ofcom chief, who joined the joined the employee-owned business at the start of 2020, recently announced she will step down when she completes her five-year term in February 2025.