27 October 2026
A leading criminologist has warned that shop thieves are now stealing to order, with demand for stolen goods driving the crime.
The latest episode of ‘High Street Matters’ from Bira features Professor Emmeline Taylor, Professor of Criminology at City St George’s, University of London, and Andrew Goodacre, CEO of Bira, discussing who is behind shop theft and why so many retailers do not report it. The episode is titled ‘Stolen To Order’.
Professor Taylor, who wrote a report for the National Business Crime Centre on where stolen goods end up, said thieves with a buyer already lined up get at least half of the retail price, compared with around a third when they sell after the event.
She said: “There’s an economic incentive for the thieves to establish their network of buyers before they go and target items.”
Mr Goodacre said: “If you can close the market off for stolen goods, you do start to decrease the attractiveness of that market for the organised criminals.”
Police-recorded shop theft fell 4% to 507,086 offences in the year to March 2026, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), after reaching a record of around 530,000 the year before. Industry estimates suggest the real number of incidents is between 17 million and 20 million a year.
Professor Taylor said: “I would not yet suggest that that 4% reduction actually means an on-the-ground reduction in the level of criminality that retailers are experiencing.”
Bira’s own survey of members in June found that more than 45% of those who experienced theft did not report it to the police.
Mr Goodacre said: “There’s still this feeling that the retailers are out on their own trying to deal with a problem that has exploded in the last few years.”
Professor Taylor also warned of the damage done by illicit shops on the high street. She said: “Every time we allow one of those illegal businesses to thrive on the high street, it is directly putting another legitimate business out of business because they simply cannot operate on such an unlevel playing field.”
Stolen to Order
Season 2 | Episode 8 - Stolen to Order: Leading criminologist Professor Emmeline Taylor, Professor of Criminology at City St. George’s, University of London, lifts the lid on the market for stolen goods and why it is now driving the crime.
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