This is the moment a ‘Robin Hood’-style supermarket thief scatters cash across a supermarket to share with shoppers in the latest brazen raid on Britain’s stores.
Shocking scenes show Tesco workers in Stratford, east London, standing helpless as the masked thug raids their tills.
Rifling through the store’s money behind the protective glass, the yob appears to be carrying a bulging ‘bag for life’ – filled with tobacco and cigarettes.
Wearing a grey hooded jumper and red jogging bottoms, a person behind a phone rushes over to them and shouts ‘yo’ in admiration.
Another can be heard repeatedly urging, ‘Give me a tenner!’, while the raid continues – and as the thief pulls cash from the till, their shouts are rewarded as he throws some through the gap.
At least five £5 notes spill onto the shop’s floor – a total of £25 – prompting squeals of delight from onlookers.
Rifling through the store’s money behind the protective glass, the yob appears to be carrying a bulging ‘bag for life’ filled with tobacco and cigarettes
And as the thief pulls cash from the till, onlookers’ shouts of ‘give me a tenner’ are rewarded as he throws some through the gap
At least five £5 notes spill onto the shop’s floor, prompting delight from onlookers
Social media users were quick to support the thug as they saw the video of his theft.
One dubbed him ‘Robin Hoodie’, while another quipped: ‘Sharing is caring.’
A third laughed, ‘Every little helps’, with another adding: ‘The workers ain’t dying for Tesco.’
It comes as Britain’s shoplifting epidemic has reached its worst level since records began in 2003.
Almost 444,000 crimes were recorded by forces in England and Wales in the year to March, up from 342,428 in the previous 12 months.
But industry figures say underreporting means shoplifting is even more endemic than currently thought, with many store owners not bothering to report offences to overwhelmed police and criminal gangs operating without any fear of being caught.
Separate data from the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) estimates retailers have recorded more than 5.6million incidents of theft over the last year.
Just 17 per cent of the 417,582 shoplifting offences recorded in 2023/24 that were assigned an outcome resulted in a charge or summons.
Shocking scenes show Tesco workers in Stratford, east London, standing helpless as the masked thug raids their tills
Almost 444,000 shoplifting offences were recorded by forces in England and Wales in the year to March, up from 342,428 in the previous 12 months
Wearing a grey hooded jumper and red jogging bottoms, the person behind the phone rushes over to them and shouts ‘yo’ in admiration
It comes as Britain’s shoplifting epidemic has reached its worst level since records began in 2003
And 58 per cent of investigations closed with no suspect identified, up from 55 per cent the previous year, according to Home Office data.
Professor Joshua Bamfield Director, Centre for Retail Research, said the rise of shoplifting was being driven by the perception that it was a risk-free crime.
He told MailOnline last month: ‘At one time, shoplifting used to be a sort of craft where people didn’t want to get caught because they knew they’d be trouble, but now people don’t even bother because there’s a perception nothing much will happen to you.
‘A lot of retail crime now is organised, with people stealing large quantities of products like alcohol, meat and designer clothes. They are linked to other criminals who sell it on elsewhere.
‘The fact thefts below £200 are not pursued and there are a lot of demands on officers mean retailers have found it very difficult to get the kind of support they require.
‘Meanwhile, managers have become increasingly concerned about the violence that apprehending shoplifters can involve so are telling their employees not to risk it.
‘So you’ve got two issues – shoplifting being partly decriminalised and the fact the police are too busy, then retailers telling shop staff not to intervene.’
Tesco and the Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment.
