Leeds named 'shoplifting capital of Great Britain' in ITV documentary featuring shocking CCTV from city store

The 20-minute documentary, which aired on ITV last night (October 19), explained that theft from high street shops is on the rise.

It has been estimated that in the last year, shoplifting cost UK retailers nearly £1bn – and the British Retail Consortium has said that the criminal activity has nearly doubled across the country since 2019.

But according to the special episode of ‘Tonight’, dubbed ‘Shoplifting: The Battle on the High Street?’, the city of Leeds is the worst hit by the problem.

Presenter Paul Brand explained: “Leeds is one area that seems to have seen a particularly sharp rise in shoplifting, with more than 2,000 crimes recorded in the last year. It has been called the shoplifting capital of Great Britain.”

During the programme, footage from a One Stop Shop in the city showed a criminal dressed in black entering on a Tuesday night with a gun in his hand. The heroic impulse of Niall Stranix, who works in the store, prevented the shoplifter from stealing.

"He didn’t look right before he’d even said anything,” he told interviewers. "I grabbed him from behind and tried to pull him over. We were having a tussle and he hit me a few times with a gun. He punched me and said if you let me go I won’t shoot.”

The criminal’s weapon was later discovered to be an airgun.