Eighteen uni students caught shoplifting in Co-op

6:10pm Tuesday 19th March 2013 in News

Students have been banned from a campus supermarket for shoplifting.

Police have confirmed that 18 students have been caught taking goods from the Co-op at the University of Sussex in the first two weeks of March.

The incidents – which work out at more than one a day – have led to the offenders being banned from the supermarket and the University of Sussex shop.

However, the students, who are paying £9,000 a year in tuition fees, escaped fines of up to £80 which are usually dished out to those caught thieving from stores.

A spokeswoman for Sussex Police confirmed the matter had been dealt with by “community resolution”.

However, no details on what this involved were included.

A statement from the University of Sussex said: “The Co-op store on campus is a large and successful one, which serves thousands of students, staff and campus visitors every week.

“The issues are being dealt with in partnership by the police, university campus security and The Southern Co-operative.”

Recent figures obtained by The Argus show that, in the first 11 months of last year, there were 71 reports of theft, fraud and forgery at Asda in Brighton Marina.

This was highest figure in the city and worked out at about six a month – a third of the number caught on the university campus.

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Comments(28)

george smith says...
6:18pm Tue 19 Mar 13

Should they not been thrown out, if aty standards are to be maintained

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charlie smirke says...
6:20pm Tue 19 Mar 13

Why weren't they prosecuted? Other shoplifters get criminal records for it, so why should these students not be treated the same?

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chrismilo says...
7:45pm Tue 19 Mar 13

Name & shame them so all he other students know who they are

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elephantsandowls says...
7:56pm Tue 19 Mar 13

no, let's not name and shame. How about some community work instead?

As for "other shoplifters get criminal records" reality check much?

No prosecution is brought normally for a first offender for a minor offence.
No judge would send a shoplifter down on a first or tenth offence in B&H.

Students who spend 9000 quid on their education should know better than thieving 5 or 10 quid worth of food from the supermarket. A lot of young people don't even know the simple basics of home economics and cooking though.

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Luke72 says...
8:13pm Tue 19 Mar 13

Reckon most of them were doing it to avoid the 5 minute queues that are regular on there. It's only proper shop on campus & the victim of its own success.

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Brightonbelle1 says...
8:34pm Tue 19 Mar 13

So i'm guessing that £9,000 per year on fees is an excuse to steal? Hmmm, forgive me but my parents taught me the difference between right and wrong. Stealing is just wrong!
I rather suspect that half of them are rich kids who just can't be bothered to join a queue. Well, that's life! If you don't like to queue for your lunch, take one with you.

I don't quite understand why they have not at least been fined. So is it a slap on the wrist, don't do it again scenario? Yeah, that'll teach em I'm sure!

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george smith says...
8:56pm Tue 19 Mar 13

Bandit country; cycling without lights, carnage pub crawls, rubbish all over the pavements, noisy parties and now thieving. Still they are good for the green vote. The joys of being a university town

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hovian says...
9:09pm Tue 19 Mar 13

Typical of Brighton's lax, chilled out non-enforcement culture which permeates everywhere in the city....

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moose10 says...
9:10pm Tue 19 Mar 13

wait till after the budget this week , plenty more people will be shoplifting.

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Maxwell's Ghost says...
9:15pm Tue 19 Mar 13

I have repeatedly posted on here that Sussex Police deal with students in this town differently than young people who are not students who are committing the same crimes.
I have asked Sussex Police why they do this and not received an answer.
I will refer this to the Police Commissioner and our MP as this happens continually. Perhaps The Argus would also investigate this and pop along to Brighton Mags and take a look at the court lists.
If these were from Whitehawk or other estates, they would be in the magistrates court in a flash.
Sussex Police are discriminating.

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FatherTed11 says...
9:52pm Tue 19 Mar 13

If they can afford £9000 a year, surely they can afford a pack of Pringles?

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andyfm says...
9:52pm Tue 19 Mar 13

@luke72....5Mins wait and your moaning???
I feel sorry for the staff and management there as they have a budget/target to achieve and with these idiotic thieves it will mean LESS staff and maybe even closure!!!
"NAME AND SHAME"(with photos) of these clowns in the halls of residence!!!!!

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qm says...
10:08pm Tue 19 Mar 13

Only caught 18? Time to review security methinks!

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Brightonbelle1 says...
10:53pm Tue 19 Mar 13

http://www.badgeronl
ine.co.uk/2013/03/co
-op-shoplifter-chase
d-and-arrested/

Looks like the Uni paper has covered it too. Interesting views some of these students possess... Apparently, people are being driven to theft. Now I understand why they do it. My heart goes out to them........!

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Hoarder12345444 says...
11:15pm Tue 19 Mar 13

FatherTed11 wrote:
If they can afford £9000 a year, surely they can afford a pack of Pringles?
I think mummy and Daddy forgot to send the bank transfer for the week, so Jacob and Timothy decided they would steal to add some excitement to their otherwise dull and monotonous lives.

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Vigilia says...
11:37pm Tue 19 Mar 13

"eighteen uni students." Presumably these were previously scholly and then Sixth Form colly students?

Please stop aping the absurd Antipodean vernacular from whence this silly abbreviation originated, in this country a university is a university.

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linnig says...
3:48am Wed 20 Mar 13

Co-op store in question is managed by the student union. So, yet again it's 'ah well chaps...lets not let this go any further eh'....Future politicians in the making??

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Maxwell's Ghost says...
6:48am Wed 20 Mar 13

And this story is exactly why local people are utterly fed up with these out of towners coming into the city thieving, lying, throwing refuse onto our streets and making a noise all night.
We really need to get them out of local homes which could be rented to local families and into student run accommodation where the college can be wholly responsible for their anti social behaviour and the costs attached to it.

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sussexguy says...
8:05am Wed 20 Mar 13

"Community resolution"? Straight out of Orwell. In other words, a politically correct form of garbage to describe the fact that they get off scott free, while others, who are probably suffering far worse deprivation, get prosecuted.
So that's all right then!

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Gary Baldy says...
9:40am Wed 20 Mar 13

Community Resolution or Restorative Justice is used by nearly all police forces in England & Wales but can only be used where the victim agrees. The next available option is an £80 penalty ticket which the offender must have the means to pay or it cannot be issued. If someone is stealing food then it's highly unlikely they can afford to pay the ticket. The only other options are to report for summons (you end up in court) or arrest and caution/charge (you probably end up in court).

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Badman69 says...
1:18pm Wed 20 Mar 13

@JoshLong, it would appear that you are not who you claim to be...my friend is the person you are commenting as and I will file to get your comments removed and your account banned

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RottingdeanRant says...
3:35pm Wed 20 Mar 13

Brightonbelle1 wrote:
http://www.badgeronl

ine.co.uk/2013/03/co

-op-shoplifter-chase

d-and-arrested/

Looks like the Uni paper has covered it too. Interesting views some of these students possess... Apparently, people are being driven to theft. Now I understand why they do it. My heart goes out to them........!
Love the 'Apparently, people are being driven to theft’ - probably in their 4*4!

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Hove Actually says...
4:02pm Wed 20 Mar 13

"there were 71 reports of theft, fraud and forgery at Asda in Brighton Marina"

What has theft from the supermarket in Whitehawk Docks got to do with this story about the University?

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Sarah Booker Lewis says...
4:31pm Wed 20 Mar 13

Hove Actually wrote:
"there were 71 reports of theft, fraud and forgery at Asda in Brighton Marina"

What has theft from the supermarket in Whitehawk Docks got to do with this story about the University?
To provide a comparison.

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davyboy says...
4:53pm Wed 20 Mar 13

FatherTed11 wrote:
If they can afford £9000 a year, surely they can afford a pack of Pringles?
they don't pay ANY fees until they start working, and earning over £20000/year. and then only a nominal amount until their salaries get bigger. no excuse for theft, and should be prosecuted, and thrown out of uni. there should be no reason for the Co-op to bring a private prosecution, as they would against you and i.

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Brightonbelle1 says...
10:00pm Wed 20 Mar 13

davyboy wrote:
FatherTed11 wrote:
If they can afford £9000 a year, surely they can afford a pack of Pringles?
they don't pay ANY fees until they start working, and earning over £20000/year. and then only a nominal amount until their salaries get bigger. no excuse for theft, and should be prosecuted, and thrown out of uni. there should be no reason for the Co-op to bring a private prosecution, as they would against you and i.
Agree wholeheartedly! Print pictures of them and prosecute! Is it down to the Co-Op to push for prosecution or a matter for the police to decide on? Probably too much paperwork for them!

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Brightonbelle1 says...
10:30pm Wed 20 Mar 13

Agree wholeheartedly! Print pictures of them and prosecute! Is it down to the Co-Op to push for prosecution or a matter for the police to decide on? Probably too much paperwork for them!

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Nellie's Grandson says...
11:23pm Wed 20 Mar 13

Community resolution makes more sense to a retailer who receives a small amount of money from the criminal who stole from them, for their trouble in detecting and reporting the crime whereas an £80 fine is neither a deterrent or suitable punishment for theft. Threats of civil recovery are a joke, as collecting the money from the majority who stoop to theft is lie trying to hold back the tide. What this report does not tell us is what is being stolen generally, I would hazard a guess that it is neither soap, bread or other essentials, rather "luxuries" that these poor students cannot live without. Theft is theft and it is high time the law treated it as such, shoplifting is not victim less, the Co-op does not loose, it is built into its prices, we all pay. Still all said its good training at "Uni" to learn to rob from the general public, banking jobs await.

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