Chocolate thieves abusing staff in Bournemouth town centre

Shop staff at WH Smith in Bournemouth town centre have become prey to repeat shoplifters, with multiple incidents each day.

Duty manager, Christopher Charalambous, has worked at the branch for six years and said thieves are becoming more desperate.

The 26-year-old said: “When I first started it used to be just kids that would come in and cause havoc, but now it’s the grown ups of the town.”

On April 23, police officers were called to the store after a male attempted to steal products before Christopher intervened.

CCTV footage shows Christopher attempt to grab a newspaper from the male, who was reportedly concealing chocolate to steal.

“He threw the newspaper at me and said 'come outside,'” said Christopher.

“I looked towards one of the council cameras outside and said this guy wants to fight me, keep an eye on him, because if it’s on camera then he’s done.”

Soon after officers arrived at 9.25am and issued the male with a section 35 dispersal notice, ordering him to leave the area for 24 hours.

Christopher said the store lost more than £1500 worth of chocolate in just two months due to shoplifting.

He added the branch only has a security guard four days of the week, which makes staff members fear for their safety.

READ MORE: 'Game-changer' to tackle theft, abuse and antisocial behaviour in BCP area

Jessica Toale, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth West, said it is “absolutely essential” people feel safe in their workplace, particularly those “providing such essential public services and customer facing roles”.

She added the party is working to reverse the category of shoplifting that deems thefts under £200 ‘low value’.

Ms Toale said this category deprioritises these offences and empowers criminals to undertake them.

She also acknowledged the increasing issue of shops selling on stolen goods, adding it should be further investigated by the authority.

“The other element is the huge cost of living crisis which is partly driving increases in crime.”

She added: “You need the right legislation and policing but also good cost of living support.”

An Against Business Crime partnership was launched last month to help tackle rising levels of theft, abuse and anti-social behaviour through a cloud-based crime reporting platform. 

Bournemouth Town Centre BID chief operating officer, Paul Kinvig, said the scheme has gone really well, with more than 65 businesses signed up.

He said: “The next step is for then the local authority and the police to start to use that information that the businesses are populating onto it to start taking further action.”