House Raided in Chiswick in Retail Crime Crackdown
Suspected shoplifted items worth over £6,000 seized
Police officers after executing the warrant to search the property. Picture: @MPSChiswick
January 6, 2025
A woman has been arrested this week following a raid on a house in Chiswick in which over £6,000 worth of suspected stolen goods were found.
She was detained on suspicion of handling stolen goods after a warrant was executed at the property near the High Road and she remains under investigation.
At least ten police officers were involved in the raid which is part of an effort to tackle shoplifting and other retail crime in the area.
The haul included children’s clothes, toys, games and household electrical items and they filled the back of a van brought to take the items away.
Although much of the shoplifting that takes place across London is opportunistic and carried out by people with addiction issues, the police believe that in many cases thieves are encouraged by other criminals to target particular items with a high retail value which are purchased from them for cash.
According to data from the Metropolitan Police in the year to November 2024 there were 307 recorded shoplifting offences in Chiswick Gunnersbury ward which includes most of the shops in the town centre. This represents a 20.7% increase over the previous 12 months. In a typical month there are around 20 cases but there was a big increase in July 2024 with 38 reported. The highest number of cases for a single month was in July 2023 when 47 shoplifting offences were recorded.
'Positive outcomes' were reported in just 19 of these cases in Chiswick Gunnersbury over the last twelve months but this was a up from 12 in the previous year.
The haul of suspected stolen goods filled the back of a van. Picture: @MPSChiswick
Parts of Chiswick High Road are also in Chiswick Homefields ward and recorded shoplifting offences have doubled in this area over the last year to 143. There was a surge of offences in between May and July when over sixty were recorded but in the last two months (October and November) only five cases were reported.
There were eight 'positive outcomes' for these cases in the year to November 2024 compared to none at all in the previous 12 months.
Value Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |