- Are shoplifters targeting your store? Email matt.strudwick@dailymail.co.uk
Artificial bay trees lining the walls of a farm shop are not normally the number one item targeted by shoplifters.
But the bizarre theft this week of two of the decorative plants is the latest in a long line of broad daylight crimes that are blighting The Black Farmer stores in London.
For its exasperated founder, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, it is something he has to contend with on a nearly daily basis, and, as he bluntly puts it, it is 'doing my head in'.
This week, the latest raid on one of his stores was the tipping point for the Windrush generation farmer.
The 68-year-old decided it was time to start the fightback by posting footage of the latest theft and publicly shaming the two crooks who swiped the trees from his Brixton store.
In the footage, the shifty-looking thieves tentatively walk up to the fake plants and look at their tags before quickly carrying them out of the shop.
Mr Emmanuel-Jones labelled them both 'stupid'. But this week's raid is tame in comparison to previous incidents where scarpering criminals have threatened to knife staff members if they try to intervene, who have even had their own phones stolen.
'Middle-class' people are also targeting the shops, with one 'well-groomed' shopper caught pocketing a £20 toy sheep.
The Jamaican-British entrepreneur said thefts at his Black Farmer stores in Brixton and White City have risen in the last year and are taking place every other day.
CCTV footage from the stores, obtained by the Mail, shows thieves stuffing bottles of alcohol in their trousers and concealing them underneath their jackets.
Some sprint away after stealing the items, while others casually walk out of the store. In one clip, a male grabs a bottle from the shelf before menacingly staring at a staff member, who then backs away.
In another, a female is seen snaffling goods from a display table located near the store's entrance and placing them into an unzipped rucksack.
He partly blames the police and has accused officers of letting criminals get away with 'extortion' as he compared the country's shoplifting epidemic to the mafia.
A man was recently caught on CCTV stealing an artificial bay tree from The Black Farmer's Brixton store
A clip from the farm shop's White City store shows a shoplifter sprinting after stealing goods
'Black Farmer' Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones (pictured) says brazen shoplifters are repeatedly targeting his stores and threatening his staff
'It reminds me of the days of the mafia, when for people to be in business they have to pay extortion,' he said.
'I feel there's a form of extortion going on at the moment where people come in and target your store, knowing that there's nothing you can do about it.
'And that's because society has allowed that to happen and, for me, it's a bit like the migrant crisis. These things can be prevented if you are prepared to be tough about it.'
Mr Emmanuel-Jones is to spend a few days at the Brixton store this week in a bid to boost the morale of his fed-up staff.
He said: 'Just to show that I'm supporting them. Because, actually, who wants to come to work when you're dealing with that s**t, day in, day out.'
Security had previously stood guard at the entrances, but Mr Emmanuel-Jones had to drop the line of defence as he could not afford the £4,500 monthly cost.
And the uptick in thefts has forced the shops to no longer display bottles of spirits on the shelves after they were repeatedly targeted.
'We're not in a position to tag things or afford security, because the cost of that means that we just wouldn't be profitable, and then to come in and steal trees like that... this has gone to a point of craziness because they would be walking along the streets with these two trees, which obviously people would see,' he said.
He says thieves are going on 'stealing circuits' starting at the Westfield shopping centre, before targeting small, independent stores.
'There is a real epidemic in shoplifting, and the worst thing about it is that the shoplifters know there's nothing that you can do about it,' he said.
In one clip, a female is seen snaffling goods from a display table located near the store's entrance and placing them into an unzipped rucksack
CCTV footage obtained by the Mail shows thieves stuffing bottles of alcohol in their trousers and concealing them underneath their jackets
In one clip, a male grabs a bottle from the shelf before menacingly staring at a staff member who then backs away
'It's become so blazoned that they know that if they threaten the staff they aren't going to get involved, and that is because as a society we have legitamised shoplifting.'
Mr Emmanuel-Jones has reported 'every single incident' to police, but he added: 'It's the helplessness of it that I'm really angry with. And the helplessness comes because, actually, the police are not doing much about it.'
The farmer of more than two decades wants British officers to copy New York cops' hardline approach to stamp out the raids.
And he has called for convicted shoplifters to be forced to wear ankle tags that will alert staff when they enter the store.
Last November, the American city reported a 13 per cent year-on-year decline in retail thefts, thanks in part to a $40million police-led task force.
In London, shoplifting reduced by four per cent between April 1, 2025, and March 11, 2026, compared to the same period the previous year.
The number of arrests in the capital in 2025 swelled by 1,800, which was a 44 per cent increase from 2024.
Mr Emmanuel-Jones, though, claims some areas in London have been abandoned to criminals.
'Retail is in real trouble,' he said. 'Because of the online platforms, like Amazon, and there is no help or understanding from the government.
'Retail is really important to the local community, but the police really do not put it high on their agenda of things they need to get under control. Therefore, the criminals are rife because nothing happens to them. There is no consequence.'
A Jeremy Clarkson-like figure is needed in retail to be 'fighting our corner' to 'put our case' to policymakers in government, Mr Emmanuel-Jones said.
'There's a lot of injustice going on out here, and no one is seeing the pain that we are going through,' he said.
Mr Emmanuel-Jones added: 'You try your best, but actually there's no support. It's just left to your own devices. And then what happens?
'I think that there's a lot of support for the big retailers. If you're one of the big supermarkets, you have the infrastructure, you have the systems, you can afford the security.
Mr Emmanuel-Jones claims some areas in London have been abandoned to criminals
'They still have their issues as well, but it's the small independents who are the ones that really, really, really struggle.'
In response, Met Police Chief Inspector Rav Pathania, who is the force's lead in tackling retail crime, said: 'Tackling shoplifting continues to be a priority for the Met and we are focused on tackling repeat offenders who create fear for retail workers and harm communities.
'By working with retailers, we are encouraging more reporting and improving evidence gathering and intelligence on the most prolific offenders. We are also increasing the use of technology such as facial recognition, which has helped us solve double the number of shoplifting cases.'
Britain is in the midst of a 'theft epidemic' as police faced a record 810 shoplifting crimes a day last year.
Police closed 295,589 shoplifting cases without identifying a suspect in the year 2024-25 - the equivalent of officers shelving 34 offences an hour.
Shoplifting levels have doubled since the pandemic and rocketed by 20 per cent since Labour came into power.
The analysis, produced for the Liberal Democrats, revealed that a record number of cases are also being dropped by police.
The number of shoplifting investigations being closed without a suspect identified has soared by 65 per cent compared to five years ago, when 178,906 shoplifting offences went unsolved.
Last year, fewer than one in five (19 per cent) shoplifting cases led to a suspect being charged or summoned, while 55 per cent of cases were closed without a suspect being identified.
And separate Office for National Statistics figures show that between April 2024 and March 2025, police recorded 530,643 shoplifting offences - the equivalent of one a minute.
