Staffordshire Police are appealing for information following a burglary at an off-licence in Uttoxeter.
The break-in occurred overnight at Bossman Booze, a store located on Market Place. Staff discovered the theft when opening the shop on Thursday morning and contacted the authorities at approximately 9:30 a.m.
The burglars made off with the store’s entire stock of cigarettes, most of its vape products, and a significant quantity of alcohol.
Police have released three images showing two individuals they wish to identify in connection with the crime. Authorities believe a third suspect was also involved in the incident.
Anyone with information about the burglary or who may recognise the individuals in the images is urged to contact Staffordshire Police on 101 quoting incident number 102 of 26 December.
To report anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A 26-year-old man has been charged with 23 shoplifting offences at various stores across Willenhall, West Midlands Police said.
Dylan Goodall appeared at Walsall Magistrates’ Court on Thursday for a first hearing, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges. The offences allegedly took place between 14 September and 29 December 29 last year.
The case has been scheduled a trial for 24 February at Walsall Magistrates’ Court. Goodall was remanded into custody and will attend a bail application hearing on 7 January .
The arrest was made by neighbourhood officers in Willenhall as part of Operation Marigold, a recent initiative launched by the Walsall Local Policing Area to combat shoplifting across the borough.
Shop staff in Willenhall were left shaken after being threatened with a knife during a robbery on Stroud Avenue on Thursday afternoon.
The incident occurred shortly after 12:30 pm when a man and a woman entered the store and threatened employees with a blade before making off with items including cheese and butter.
West Midlands Police officers from the local neighbourhood team responded swiftly, arresting a 36-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman near the scene.
“They were taken into custody on suspicion of robbery. She is also being questioned on suspicion of five shoplifting offences. They remain in custody as we continue with our enquiries,” a spokesperson for West Midlands Police said.
Anyone with information about the robbery has been urged to contact West Midlands Police via Live Chat on its website or by calling 101, quoting crime reference number 20/101491/25. Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A targeted police operation in Taunton town centre has led to the arrest of six individuals involved in shoplifting and related offenses.
The crackdown, launched in response to concerns raised by local retailers and residents, focused on shoplifting hotspots and offenders with repeat crime records. The operation, spearheaded by Taunton Neighbourhood Policing Team and supported by Avon and Somerset Police’s Volume Offenders Team, that target repeat offenders with more than three outstanding crime reports, has already resulted in multiple arrests and convictions.
Among those detained:
A 23-year-old woman, of no fixed abode, has been charged with 25 counts of shop theft at local stores in Taunton, including Boots, Aldi, Marks and Spencer, Tesco Express, Co-op, Asda, Superdrug and Sainsbury’s, Hankridge Farm Retail Park. These offences took place in November and December 2024. On Monday 23 December, at Taunton Magistrates’ Court, she was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison following multiple breaches of her bail conditions.
A 30-year-old man, of no fixed abode, was also handed a 16-week prison sentence on 31 December for actively committing theft in breach of his bail conditions. He had previously been arrested and charged with five counts of shop theft at Sainsbury’s, Hankridge Farm Retail Park and one count of shop theft at Asda, Taunton. He was also charged with one count of shop theft at Tesco Express, Priorswood.
A 51-year-old woman, of no fixed abode, was arrested and charged with four counts of shop theft at Sainsbury’s, Hankridge Farm Retail Park. She appeared in court on 26 November and has been remanded in custody until 10 January. On this date, she will appear at Taunton Crown Court for sentencing.
A 42-year-old woman, of Triscombe Road, Taunton, was arrested and charged for a dwelling burglary. She has been remanded in custody for a pre-trial plea hearing at Taunton Crown Court on 10 January.
A 46-year-old woman, of no fixed abode, was wanted for breach of a suspended sentence by Taunton Crown Court. Patrol officers in the town centre identified and arrested her on 14 December.
A 32-year-old woman, of no fixed abode, was wanted on recall to prison. She was also arrested in Taunton town centre on 14 December.
“The impact of theft and threatening behaviour on retailers – especially small businesses – cannot be underestimated. Not only does it have a knock-on effect on the running of a business, which may have economic implications for the wider community, but it can cause harassment, alarm and distress to business owners and staff,” Superintendent Lisa Simpson said.
“We are continuing to review how we work in partnership with the Taunton Business Improvement District and security teams to provide stores with the support they need. This includes providing advice on reporting crime and anti-social behaviour, and making the process as quick and easy as possible using QR codes.
“In the meantime, our Volume Offenders Team and neighbourhood officers in Taunton are working hard to gather evidence and compile arrest packages for well-known offenders whose actions are causing harm.”
Retail crime remains underreported nationally, but Superintendent Simpson urged businesses to report incidents: “We want to hear about these incidents so we can gather valuable intelligence and target police resources accordingly.”
Local retailers can report shoplifting incidents through the Avon and Somerset Police website.
The Welsh government has on Thursday announced £10million in Financial Transaction Capital to fund regeneration projects across the country
The, has made £10m in Financial Transaction Capital available to fund regeneration projects across the country.
The Transforming Towns Loans programme supports local authorities with town and city centre regeneration projects and has allocated more than £62m since its launch in 2014.
The aim of the scheme is to reduce the number of vacant and underutilised sites and buildings to diversify our town centre offers and increase footfall.
The funding also encourages more sustainable uses for empty premises, such as leisure, key services and conversion to town centre residential, and help to prevent some of the activity from being relocated to edge of town development.
“Our Transforming Towns Loans programme improves the places where people live and work, creating a sense of place and vibrant high streets,” Jayne Bryant, the cabinet secretary for housing and local government, said.
“Empty and disused buildings are a wasted resource in our communities, and our town centre funding will create job opportunities and bring life back to high streets and disused and forgotten buildings at the heart of their town centres.
“I encourage local authorities to utilise this funding and look forward to seeing their plans to create job opportunities and bring life back to the forgotten buildings in the heart of their communities.”
Applications for the 2024/25 round of loan funding closes on 10 January 2025.
An anonymous group consisting of current and former employees of the Post Office and Royal Mail have called on to the Forfeiture Committee to remove of honours awarded to 14 individuals who are connected to the Post Office Horizon scandal.
The 14 names mentioned by the group includes former ministers, civil servants, and Post Office and Royal Mail bosses such as Vince Cable KCB, Ed Davey KCB, Jo Swinson CBE, Donald Brydon CBE, Moya Green DBE, Alan Cook CBE and Alwen Lyons OBE.
The group has written to the committee listing the names of individuals who it said “owned, oversaw, governed and ran the Post Office” during the scandal, Computer Weekly reported.
The letter, as seen by Computer Weekly, stated, “We are deeply concerned by the testimony given under or to the inquiry, particularly during phases five and seven which has revealed beyond any doubt the incompetence, negligence, restlessness, ethical corruption and willful blindness (‘not me guv’ attitude) of certain individuals at the heart of Whitehall, all of whom have been bestowed with honours.
“There can be no better an example of rewards for failure than those who owned, oversaw, governed and ran the Post Office – a taxpayer-funded organisation – and have received honours for their public or related service.
“The Forfeiture Committee, therefore, does not need to wait to consider stripping honours from those other senior individuals responsible for the scandal who have blatantly contravened a range of governance and conduct codes, legal and fiduciary duties at the Nolan principles.
"Their abject behaviour or failure to act in accordance with these standards has brought the honours systems into disrepute.”
This comes a day after the release of a damning report by Commons MPs on the progress of compensation of Post Office Horizon scandal victims.
In the report by the Business and Trade Committee (BTC), MPs have called for the government to be fined if it fails to provide redress quickly enough to victims of the Horizon software scandal.
MPs have called on to introduce new legally enforceable time limits for each stage of claim processing.
The process of seeking compensation is "akin to a second trial for victims", the committee chair Liam Byrne said.
It is "imperative" applicants receive upfront legal advice paid for by scheme operators rather than applicants, the committee's report said, as evidence given by claimants' solicitors said when they get legal advice, their financial redress offers double.
More than 700 sub-postmasters across the UK were wrongfully prosecuted by the Post Office for theft and false accounting using the Horizon software made by Fujitsu which incorrectly generated shortfalls in branches.
Many more incurred large debts, lost homes, experienced relationship breakdown, became unwell in an effort to repay the imagined shortfalls and some took their own lives.