Huge Christmas shopping crowds are the perfect cover for a hidden menace - the serial shoplifter.

A hard core of professional thieves operates in Brighton all year round, but Christmas offers even richer pickings.

Some make a living by shoplifting and selling stolen goods while others are funding expensive drug habits.

But they could have to check out of town in a hurry when a series of new retail crime initiatives come into force.

Shoplifting costs Brighton stores millions of pounds a year, and honest customers foot the bill as prices rise to cover the losses.

In a bid to combat the crimewave, more than 80 traders have signed up to the Retail Crime Initiative, which has applied for a £5,000 start-up grant from Sussex Police Authority.

The cash will help pay for a scheme co-ordinator, with the rest of the money coming from the shops themselves.

The co-ordinator's job will include expanding membership of the initiative, possibly to incorporate St James's Street and Hove.

There are also plans to widen the scope of a radio network, putting security guards across town in constant contact so they can monitor thieves.

Brighton town centre manager Tony Mernagh said a civil recovery scheme was being discussed, where shoplifters could be penalised twice for theft.

After being dealt with by magistrates they would be sued by stores seeking to recover costs for the time and effort they have put into the prosecution.

Mr Mernagh said he was waiting to hear from police about the imposition of pre-Christmas exclusion orders on persistent offenders, effectively banning them from the town centre.

If police give the green light, photographs of thieves will be circulated to stores.

If an excluded shoplifter is found in a store after being served with the order, they will face tougher penalties in the courts.

Mr Mernagh said: "We have given the police 14 nominations and I would anticipate they will OK between six and 12.

"These are people who are effectively making a living out of shoplifting and have multiple prosecutions. They may also be violent and intimidatory.

"We want to send out the message to these people that they are no longer welcome in Brighton town centre."

Barrie Parkman, head of operations at Churchill Square shopping centre, has welcomed the initiative.

Mr Parkman said one store detective was recently injured by a shoplifter wielding a broken bottle.

Mr Parkman said some of the thieves were reasonable when caught but others became aggressive and occasionally carried weapons.

Mr Parkman said: "It's our busiest time now. Most of the shoplifters are quite well known in the town and we track them on our security cameras and warn the stores.

"A lot of them are feeding a drug habit but they cost stores a lot of money and in the long run they cost you and I a lot of money as well."