A ‘MASSIVE increase in shoplifting’ in Cirencester has seen the number of offences double in a year.

Police said the rise in shoplifting accounted for the 80 offences which saw the number of thefts jump from 364 to 444 in the past 12 months.

The overall number of thefts rose by 22 per cent between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017 compared to the same period the previous year.

“We’ve seen a massive increase in shoplifting in Cirencester,” said Cotswold Police Sergeant Garrett Gloyn, speaking at last week’s annual town meeting.

“Our shoplifting figures over the last 12 months have doubled and that accounts for all of the rise in reported thefts.

“It is difficult for me to say why the number of thefts have gone up, I can only speculate. A lot of our instances of theft are repeat offenders who are local to the area.

“I can speculate that a reduction in their benefits and difficulty in getting hold of the sort of medical care, in terms of drug rehabilitation and counselling, which they’ve had previously, has meant some of them have fallen off the rails and have offended quite a lot.”

He said “some of the names” could be “out thieving every day”.

Despite the worrying figures, Sgt Gloyn said police have had “some successes in He referred to persistent offender Christopher Baker being jailed for six months in December as “a particularly good result for us”.

Baker, 40, from Stroud, stole food from Waitrose and Tesco Express in Cirencester last summer, as well as DVDs from Tesco Extra and steak and chicken from Marks and Spencer in October.

“We’ve got an array of actions that we can take when we find a shoplifter,” added Sgt Gloyn.

“If we find someone who’s not been in trouble with us before, it is possible that we will deal with this minor shoplifter, or shoplift, by way of something call restorative justice, where they may have to pay for the item they’ve taken, offer up an apology to the shop keeper, and be banned from the store.”

He said offenders can also receive penalty notices of £90 and are often invited to come to Cirencester police station for interview under caution.

“We suggest it will be in their interest and we will interview them under caution, there will be some formal action, a postal charge or a police caution, or we can drag them down to the cells,” said Sgt Gloyn.

John Lee Goscombe, another persistent Cirencester offender, is also “back in prison” after breaching a criminal behaviour order following his release.

“Last year, I stood here and said we’d been successful in locking him up for a couple of years for a dwelling burglary,” said Sgt Gloyn. “He blamed us for making him turn to dwelling burglaries because we got a criminal behaviour order banning him from going to shops.

“He had been released from prison, but unfortunately for John he’s committed quite a number of shoplifts and when he goes shoplifting he breaches his criminal behaviour order, so he’s back in prison for breaching that.

“There will be cases for John to answer in the next couple of months but he is back in prison for the original dwelling burglary.”

The number of recorded burglaries in the town has gone down by 18 per cent, and Sgt Gloyn said break-ins are a “priority for the constabulary”.

“On the subject of shoplifters, we have had some success, it is an issue we’re very mindful of, albeit, not an operational priority like dwelling burglaries are,” he said.

“We try to encourage the stores in town to use the StoreNet radio system more than they are. We also encourage them to install decent CCTV.”

Sgt Gloyn said the overall crime figures for the district have gone down by 0.4 per cent, while the 1.5 per cent rise in Cirencester was largely down to a recent vandal attack on Gloucester Street where 20 cars were damaged.

For the full crime figures for your area, see police.co.uk