Shop owner makes 50 citizen’s arrests because shoplifting at his store is so bad
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A brave storeowner has taken the law into his own hands to fight back against the shoplifting epidemic that has gripped Britain. Martin Gaunt, 62, owner of multiple toy and gift stores in Truro, Cornwall, has made more than 50 citizen arrests tackling armed thieves who steal from his stores.
Martin, who has had the stores in the area for two years encourages other shop-owners to ‘battle theft ‘ claiming the police ‘fail to do anything about it’. Data from the Office of National Statistics shows a shocking 28% increase of shoplifting cases from 2023, with 469,788 overall incidents in England and Wales in 2024.
![[Shoplifters in Truro Cornwall Collects taken from https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/30226060/shoplifting-stealing-truro-cornwall-thief/]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233542320-d243.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=416)
Cornwall and Devon, where Martin’s Happy Piranha store operates in, has faced a 37% increase of shoplifting since 2023. Martin told Metro: ‘It’s time to for us as a community to say we’ve had enough. We need to look and see collectively what we can do.’.
![[Shoplifters in Truro Cornwall Collects taken from https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/30226060/shoplifting-stealing-truro-cornwall-thief/]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233542381-2305.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Despite multiple meetings with legal authorities, including police commissioners and Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, Gaunt says: ‘no matter their understanding or proposed legislation, nothing will change’. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video.
![[Shoplifters in Truro Cornwall Collects taken from https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/30226060/shoplifting-stealing-truro-cornwall-thief/]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233542319-8574.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Up Next. The main reason for this is ‘nobody enforcing laws at a local level’ he said. The dad-of-two believes ‘the lawlessness encourages shop-lifting’ and isn’t confident things will change in the area soon. Instead of calling 999 to restore order, Gaunt uses the power of ‘citizen arrest’, found in Section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
![[Shoplifters in Truro Cornwall Collects taken from https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/30226060/shoplifting-stealing-truro-cornwall-thief/]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233542318-bfc7.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
