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Hastings shop owners have welcomed Sussex Police’s use of electronic tagging of prolific shoplifters after a court ordered that a local man be the second person in the country be fitted with a tracking device under the scheme when he is released from prison. For the first time ever in the UK, persistent shoplifters will now be electronically tagged as a condition of Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) following shop theft convictions. In the pioneering pilot scheme, named Operation STOP (Shop Theft Offender Pilot) has been led by Sussex PCC Katy Bourne. It aims to reduce reoffending and aid rehabilitation through […]

The Hastings Area Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) 2024 Annual Report outlines the efforts and achievements of the organization in reducing crime among its 360 registered member businesses. Supported by the Love Hastings Business Improvement District and funded partially by a £6,500 annual grant from the Safer Hastings Partnership, the BCRP offers its services free to local businesses. The group utilizes a robust infrastructure that includes 28 CCTV cameras and a 4G radio network to monitor and respond to crime effectively. In 2024, the BCRP responded to over 250 police requests for CCTV footage, aiding investigations and enhancing crime reporting. […]

Benjamin Quaye, of Mount Pleasant Road, Hastings, admitted in Hastings Magistrate Court to two counts of shop theft, including one, from Boots in Bexhill on 20th February 2024, which his defence claimed had been motivated by an upset partner who he had failed to buy a Valentine’s gift for. In this case the theft was of cosmetics valued at £290 – which he was ordered to repay to the store in compensation as the goods had never been recovered. The second theft took place on 16th October at M&S in Hastings, when Quaye admitted to stealing two items of clothing […]

Christine Brown, currently of Lewes, but formerly with a history of offending in Hastings, pleaded guilty to eight counts of shop theft, and was sentenced at Hastings Magistrates court on 6th November 2024 to 18 weeks in prison. She was also ordered to pay £85 in court costs, a £154 victim surcharge, and received a £40 fine for breaching conditions of an earlier conviction. The prison sentence was suspended by magistrates for 18 months, conditional on her receiving no further convictions in that time. She was also ordered to attend drug rehabilitation and to take part in at least 15 […]

Examination of witnesses Sophie Jordan, James Lowman and Adam Ratcliffe. Q34 The Chair: Welcome to this second oral evidence session for our inquiry into shoplifting. I would be grateful if our witnesses could introduce themselves. James Lowman: I am the chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores. There are 50,000 convenience stores in the UK, and it is our job to represent them to government. Sophie Jordan: I am the manager of the National Association of Business Crime Partnerships, the representative body for Business Crime Reduction Partnerships in the UK. Adam Ratcliffe: I am the operations director for Safer […]

[November 2024] Coming after a month where some of Hastings’ most prolific offernders have received prison sentences for shop theft, burglary, and violence, we look at some practical solutions being put forward that might further help turn the tide in the fight against retail crime. The Justice and Home Affairs Committee has written to the Minister for Policing, Crime and Fire Prevention, Dame Diana Johnson MP, following their inquiry into the rising problem of shop theft. The recommendations include A short summary of findings is as follows: Summary of Crime Reporting, Motivations, Police Perceptions, and Recommended Solutions 1. Why Few […]

Nathan Higgins, of no fixed address pleaded guilty at Brighton Crown Court for what the court heard the judge describe as a ‘spree of offences’ that demonstrated the continuation of an ‘appalling record of flouting the law and failing to comply with the terms of previous court orders.’ Higgins received a 56-week prison term for crimes involving breaking into business premises, stealing charity collections, shoplifting, and stealing a valuable bicycle. He has close ties with Hastings, but is also well known across Sussex, with offences on record in other towns, including Eastbourne and Brighton. Previously this year he again appeared at […]

A Hastings man, Stephen Franks, was convicted of 25 counts of shoplifting at Brighton Magistrates Court on 28th October 2022, and bailed for sentencing at Hastings on the 9th December. Franks, of Stonehouse Road, St Leonards, was described in court as having a severe alcohol addiction which had led him to regularly steal wine from a local Co-Op store almost daily throughout much of September and October. The magistrate noted Franks’ previous convictions and prison sentences for similar offences, and made an order that whilst on bail he was to live and sleep at his registered address and attend rehabilitation […]