Spalding Shopwatch co-ordinator calls for tougher sentences after serial shoplifter was only given a suspended sentence by Boston magistrates

A former police officer is calling for a change to the law after a serial shoplifter only received a suspended sentence.

Spalding’s Shopwatch co-ordinator Stuart Brotherton wants the Sentencing Council – which sets the punishments that courts must follow – to beef up its guidelines for shoplifters following this latest case.

Benjamin Jenkins, 40, of Park Road, Spalding, was was sentenced to 26 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, after admitting 15 charges of theft during a hearing on December 12. He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and the £154 victim surcharge.

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Shoplifting has become a problem in Spalding with a 70% rise in reported incidents in the town – and Mr Brotherton has previously stated that 90% of shoplifting incidents are carried out by people with ‘entrenched’ drug and alcohol issues.

A Freedom of Information submitted by this website found that that Lincolnshire Police received 138 reports of shoplifting in the town between January 1 and September 14 this year – compared with 82 reports for the entire previous year. Officers this year have made 22 arrests and, of those, 15 were repeat offenders.

Mr Brotherton says that ‘a suspended sentence does not send out the right message to victims’ – and did not get a positive response from traders.

He said: “This is a good example of a lot of work being done by the police and everything goes to the court and then they get a sentence like that. It doesn’t reflect the gravity of the accumulation of the 15 offences.

“It doesn’t read well when someone appeared before the court for a multitude of offences.

“It is frustrating for me and the shops.

“Think of the accumulated cost of getting this man to court. You have the loss incurred by the shops, then you have the police who have to gather evidence, shop time to download CCTV, legal advice and then it was put before the court. It must have cost thousands.

“This (shoplifting) is having a significant impact on this area, businesses have been under the kosh for some years. Small independent shops are struggling to make ends meet and this is the last thing they need.”

Currently, guidance issued by the Sentencing Council – which sets the punishment that courts must follow – states that a maximum term for stolen goods worth less than £200 is a six month custodial sentence. But many offenders get suspended sentences.

Mr Brotherton would like to see community sentences – in which criminals pay back their debt to society by doing unpaid work – included within the options available to magistrates.

He said: “No-one is ever going to put shoplifting at the top of a priority list and I accept that. For me these are serious crimes that are occurring and their hands are tied in court. There is a limit on what they can do.

“For people that repeatedly re-offend then there needs to be more.”

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