Shop owner makes 50 citizen’s arrests because shoplifting at his store is so bad

A brave storeowner has taken the law into his own hands to fight back against the shoplifting epidemic that has gripped Britain.

Martin Gaunt, 62, owner of multiple toy and gift stores in Truro, Cornwall, has made more than 50 citizen arrests tackling armed thieves who steal from his stores.

Martin, who has had the stores in the area for two years encourages other shop-owners to ‘battle theft ‘ claiming the police ‘fail to do anything about it’.

Data from the Office of National Statistics shows a shocking 28% increase of shoplifting cases from 2023, with 469,788 overall incidents in England and Wales in 2024.

Cornwall and Devon, where Martin’s Happy Piranha store operates in, has faced a 37% increase of shoplifting since 2023.

Martin told Metro: ‘It’s time to for us as a community to say we’ve had enough. We need to look and see collectively what we can do.’

Despite multiple meetings with legal authorities, including police commissioners and Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, Gaunt says: ‘no matter their understanding or proposed legislation, nothing will change’.

The main reason for this is ‘nobody enforcing laws at a local level’ he said.

The dad-of-two believes ‘the lawlessness encourages shop-lifting’ and isn’t confident things will change in the area soon.

Instead of calling 999 to restore order, Gaunt uses the power of ‘citizen arrest’, found in Section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.

Martin, and his sons that work at the stores, heroically conduct the manoeuvre – even against thieves with knuckle dusters, knives and hammers.

They stop shoplifters from leaving the store by blocking the exit, and only physically interject when offenders try to escape with stock.

Happy Piranha stores are also equipped with 12 CCTV cameras, with more on the way to catch criminals in the act.

He also also estimates shoplifting has cost him and other business owners in Truro – ‘£1 million’.

These thieves usually being young people with substance issues, stealing anything they can get their hands on to ‘feed their addiction’.

He recalls a time when he caught a young girl trying to steal items, who wasn’t worried about any sentencing from the police, rather the punishment she’d face from her county lines drug dealer.

A sobering reminder, which data shows in 2023, that 50% of shoplifting offences are frequently closed with no suspect.

To prevent the epidemic of retail crime worsening, Gaunt calls for community action.

Martin added: ‘For me, civil arrests have reduced our crime rate by close to 90%.

‘And now, thieves that used to come into our store know that we recognise them, will stop them, and wait for the police to detain them.’

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, acknowledges: ‘shoplifting is a real issue’ and wants to reduce it.

She said previously: ‘I have made theft in our town and cities a priority in my next Police and Crime Plan, asking Devon and Cornwall Police to have an increased focus on reducing theft and shoplifting on our high streets’.

A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police told Metro: ‘Our crime prevention officers have offered advice to Mr Gaunt on several occasions around how to protect his premises from shoplifting.

‘We have also attended his premises when he has reported shoplifting including when he has detained a shoplifter.

‘We will always encourage the public to phone the police, as this is safer for retailers and other members of the community.

‘In Truro,  we also have uniformed security patrols, named the Rangers, which businesses in Truro support and value as the uniformed presence deters many incidents occurring, and when there is an incident the stores are able to radio the Rangers to attend their premises and often will prevent the situation from further escalating.

Devon & Cornwall Police is committed to working with business owners to offer advice on how to protect their premises by introducing CCTV and added security.

‘Our Crime Prevention Officers also work with retail partners, offering advice on how to reduce their vulnerability to shoplifting – which is a key part to crime reduction.

‘The individual circumstances of every incident reported to us is assessed for the immediate threat, risk and harm to the public. Resources are then deployed where they can be most effective in catching offenders and keeping people safe.

‘We will always prioritise attendance where violence is involved or a shoplifter is detained. If there is no immediate threat, the incident will be recorded and assessed by local officers where the victim will be contacted, evidence gathered and the report progressed.

‘Devon and Cornwall Police will continue to work collaboratively with retail partners and other partner agencies such as local councils, to tackle the rise in shoplifting, catch more offenders and keep retail workers safe.’

Despite Gaunt’s criticism of the DCP, he wants to work alongside the police, so communication and trust is restored – the antidote he believes will solve the shoplifting endemic.

This is also so his sons and grandchildren have a ‘safe community to enjoy and grow up in’, with the high street being ‘central to that community’, in which he calls for people to ‘not abandon it’.

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