The rise of middle-class shoplifting and how it became an epidemic in London

Emma, 37, a PR from south London has a tried and tested method. While she’s waiting patiently in the queue at the supermarket, she syphons off a few smaller, higher-value items from her basket into a tote bag — a packet of smoked salmon, a wedge of Brie, a punnet of blueberries. When it’s Emma’s turn to pay, these won’t make it through the self-checkout machine. “I do it nearly every time I go shopping,” she says. “No one has ever noticed or stopped me or asked to check my bag.” This is not just shoplifting. This is middle class shoplifting.

Recently Archie Norman, the chairman of , said the rise in retail crime was down to affluent customers who were helping themselves to a five-finger discount. “Some of it is by gangs or