Durham convenience store worker doused in petrol

In unrelated series of events over last few days, convenience store workers became the victim of violent crimes that left them shaken.

In one of the incidents that happened in Peterlee in Durham county on Jan 25, a convenience store worker was doused in petrol by robbers who then threatened him with dire consequences if he did not hand them the cash. The burglary occurred during early morning hours.

Police have released CCTV images of a man after a lone shop worker was doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight during a shop robbery in Peterlee.

He then demanded money before fleeing with a quantity of cash. While the shop worker was not physically harmed, he was left understandably shaken by the ordeal.

Durham Constabulary has released the CCTV images of the suspect.

In another incident, a staff member at No Problem convenience store was threatened with a gun.

Detectives are appealing for witnesses following an armed robbery at an Armley convenience store.

Leeds District CID would like to speak to anyone who saw or has information about the incident which took place at the No Problem convenience store on Armley Ridge Road, during the evening of Sunday, 26 January.

Police were called at about 8.34 pm to a report two masked men had entered the store and threatened a staff member inside with what appeared to be a handgun.

Both then fled with a quantity of cash, cigarettes and alcohol, leaving the staff member unharmed but very shaken.

West Yorkshire police said, "A number of enquiries remain ongoing and anyone who saw either of the males fleeing the scene or has information or footage which may assist the investigation is asked to contact Leeds District CID on 101 referencing police crime number 13250047909."

Retail crime is said to be "spiralling out of control" with people in retail have been spat on, racially abused, and threatened with machetes.

According to new figures released today from the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Annual Crime Survey, incidents of violence and abuse in 2023-24 climbed to over 2,000 per day, up from 1,300 the year before.

This is more than three times what it was in 2020, when there were just 455 incidents a day. Incidents included racial or sexual abuse, physical assault or threats with weapons. There were 70 incidents per day which involved a weapon, more than double the previous year.

With the total number of incidents continuing to grow, and their nature becoming increasingly aggressive, satisfaction with the police remains low, with 61 per cent of respondents describing the police response to incidents as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.

Of the remaining, 29 per cent rated the response as ‘fair’, a further 6% said good, and 3% described it as ‘excellent’, the first time in five years that any retailers have rated it as such.

Theft also reached an all-time high with over 20 million incidents (over 55,000 per day) costing retailers £2.2 billion in 2023/24 (up from £1.8 billion the previous year). Many more incidents are linked to organised crime, with gangs systematically targeting stores across the country, stealing tens of thousands of pounds worth of goods and rotating around multiple stores.

Read more on retail crime.