NEW research has found that across Hampshire more than 35 incidents of shoplifting take place every day.

A study by OnBuy.com revealed that Hampshire Constabulary reported 12,578 shoplifting offences throughout 2016/2017.

The figures showed that the force had the eighth highest rate for the crime in England and Wales.

Of the 43 police forces within that area, Metropolitan Police Service had the highest rate with 47,580 crimes reported, where as the City of London Police were bottom with just 729 incidents.

In total there were more than 360,000 cases of shoplifting reported.

Shoplifting is one of the most common crimes committed by opportunistic thieves as it can be profitable for offenders but significantly costly for shops.

Retail security firm Checkpoints Systems also found that Britain's shops collectively lose around £800m per year due to the offence.

Cas Paton, managing director of OnBuy.com, said shoplifting is more prevalent that most people would like to think.

He added: "Considering the amount of time and energy shops put into running various aspects of their daily operations, shoplifting is really an unfortunate occurrence for them.

"Whilst it may feel unavoidable, shops can certainly take various steps to prevent shoplifters from targeting them. "Simple steps such as better staff training to identify potential shoplifters and storing high value items more securely can go a long way when dealing with the problem of shoplifters”.

Using data from data.police.co.uk, OnBuy.com investigated the total number of shoplifting offences that were recorded in the financial year from April 2016 to March 2017.

The police define shoplifting as the “theft from shops or stalls”.