CHESHIRE police and crime commissioner John Dwyer has welcomed the news that serial or abusive shoplifters will face tougher punishments.

Under Government plans assaulting a retail worker will be made a standalone criminal offence, ‘sending a clear message that there will be tough consequences for this unacceptable behaviour’.

Welcoming the news, Mr Dwyer said: “I am really pleased the Government has approved steps to introduce specific legislation to protect shop workers.

“Shop workers should not be exposed to physical or verbal aggressive behaviour, and this Government step sends the right signal that this will not be tolerated.”

Perpetrators could be sent to prison for up to six months, receive an unlimited fine and be banned from going back to the shop where they committed their crimes, with Criminal Behaviour Orders barring them visiting specific premises.

Breaching an order is also a criminal offence and carries a five-year maximum prison sentence. For the most serious cases of assault, such as causing grievous bodily harm with intent, offenders could face a life sentence.

The Government is also stepping up action to clamp down on offenders who repeatedly target the country’s high streets, with serial offenders forced to wear tags to track their movements.

These tags will be a constant and physical reminder to offenders that the Probation Service can find out where they have been and when, and that they risk being sent to prison if they refuse to obey the rules. Under an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, if an offender is found guilty of assaulting staff three times, or is sentenced for shoplifting on three separate occasions, they should be made to wear a tag as part of any community order.

Ahead of this legislation coming in, the Government will partner with a police force to pilot a bespoke package of community sentencing measures which can be used by judges to tackle high levels of shoplifting, sending a clear message that repeat criminality will not be tolerated.

The Government is also ramping up the use of facial recognition technology to help catch perpetrators and prevent shoplifting in the first place. Backed by a £55.5m investment over the next four years, the police will be able to further roll this new state of the art technology.

This will include £4m for bespoke mobile units that can be deployed to high streets across the country with live facial recognition used in crowded areas to identify people wanted by the police – including repeat shoplifters.

The mobile units will take live footage of crowds in towns and on highstreets, comparing images to specific people wanted by the police or banned from that location.

Police in the area will then be alerted so they can track down these offenders.