‘It’s very brazen’: retail workers and shoplifters on the UK’s record theft statistics

Staff tell of thieves costing stores thousands, while shoplifters say soaring living costs drove them to crimeIt was about 8pm in Tesco Express when Katherine*, a shift manager in north-west England, was alone with her younger colleague when she noticed a man acting suspiciously in the aisle containing home goods.The section – which stocked items such as laundry detergent and fabric softener – is behind plastic security barriers, so “he basically ripped it out the shelf, swept