My housemates recently got caught shoplifting a small amount at Waitrose (under 20GBP between them). They are obviously ashamed and terrified now, but one of them suffers from mental health issues and the other from financial ones (so probably not the best pairing in the first place LOL) and are scared to death even to seek help on here themselves.
They are genuinely lovely people with no previous encounters with police and I also don't want police turning up at our door either LOL..
Basically one of them got spotted and they both got taken to the back. Security went through their bags and recovered items unpaid for in a condition still totally fine for resale. The security team took their IDs and credit card details, issued a lifetime ban and said they should expect a letter from RLP in the mail soon. No one took their picture or called the police (to their knowledge, as none turned up) while they were held in the shop.
However, as the security guy took their credit card details and it was two of them together, they are now worried that they will go through CCTV of their previous shops as well (Waitrose website says it keeps 30 days of recordings) and what will happen if they are found doing it more than once. Is this something that was likely to happen in this situation? If so, would they be likely to go to jail or still treated as first time offenders? If Waitrose contacted the police after they were let go, would they be informed of this?
They obviously don't intend to do this again, go back to Waitrose and one of them even finally reached out to NHS for some help so I would hate to see this taken further than the detention in the back when it happened and the fine in the mail.
Would really appreciate some advice here so I can hopefully put their minds at ease a little bit.
They are genuinely lovely people with no previous encounters with police and I also don't want police turning up at our door either LOL..
Basically one of them got spotted and they both got taken to the back. Security went through their bags and recovered items unpaid for in a condition still totally fine for resale. The security team took their IDs and credit card details, issued a lifetime ban and said they should expect a letter from RLP in the mail soon. No one took their picture or called the police (to their knowledge, as none turned up) while they were held in the shop.
However, as the security guy took their credit card details and it was two of them together, they are now worried that they will go through CCTV of their previous shops as well (Waitrose website says it keeps 30 days of recordings) and what will happen if they are found doing it more than once. Is this something that was likely to happen in this situation? If so, would they be likely to go to jail or still treated as first time offenders? If Waitrose contacted the police after they were let go, would they be informed of this?
They obviously don't intend to do this again, go back to Waitrose and one of them even finally reached out to NHS for some help so I would hate to see this taken further than the detention in the back when it happened and the fine in the mail.
Would really appreciate some advice here so I can hopefully put their minds at ease a little bit.
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