Thanks so much.

I could reach in to the screen and hug you!!!

I got a letter through the post today from the Manchester BRCP. As stated, I can't post a pdf or anything but the organisation do have a website (just google manchester brcp) The letter has my personal details at the top and a line stating that "On this date you were involved in an incident concerning dishonesty/ criminal damage/ violence/ verbal abuse/ anti-social beahviour (Circle as appropriate) [dishonesty is circled]" Underneath that there's a box and that states "DETAINED FOR THEFT" It goes on to state: "A record of this incident/ offence has been retained by the business and in addition passed to the Business Crime Reduction Partnership for collation on the partnership's database and may be disseminated to all member businesses in the scheme. Cityco Business Crime Partnership maintains a record of all incidents concerning Dishonesty/ Criminal Damage/ Violence/ Verbal Abuse/ Anti-social behaviour and is designed to identify the most persistent offenders. If you are not involved in any other incidents described above then your details will be removed from the database after a period of twelve months with no further action taken. However, should you come to the attention of any members of the scheme or the Police then the details of this incident will be taken into consideration with a view to considering what appropriate action should be taken against you which may include Exclusion [their bold/ underlining] from all member premises for a period of 24 months. If you wish to appeal against your details being detained by this company or on our information crime system then you should write to [name and address of business crime manager]" It all seems a little vague regarding what they're actually doing with my details. "A record of this incident/ offence ...may be disseminated to all member businesses in the scheme" doesn't really tell me much. There are logos from the police, storenet and BCRP on the bottom of the letter and the website also has the logos of Manchester City Council, British Transport Police and Immigration Enforcement. Will my details be passed on to all of these people as well as the shops? I've not slept properly since this happened and feel physically sick. I'm scared to take my son shopping now and have had to tell his gran/ my mum that I can't meet them tomorrow. Also, my employer has links to the City Council; will they find out through this? The hopeful part of me thinks that the council logo is on the site because the BCRP's parent company does lots with the council in terms of events and they're not going to email lists of names and photos of all Manchester's shoplifters to some worker at the town hall to cross check against people they have dealings with. BCRP.pdf

Thanks for all the responses, they've really reassured me. It was a stupid and wrong thing that I did and certainly won't ever even consider it again. Pretty disgusted with myself and am finding it hard to look my wife (who I haven't told) in the eye. I'm hoping this will pass as I hate keeping things secret from her. I've had a bit of a google and it looks like a firm called VSG do a lot of work with B&Q, security-wise. I desperately hope so. There was a B&M near where I used to live and they had photos taken from their security cameras offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of their suspected shop-lifters. I always used to sneer and laugh at the 'low lifes' on display; now I'm no better then they are. I'm wary of pressing matters any further as if the security were just trying to scare me, a) they have probably left it now and b) are potentially quite malicious and I don't want to tempt them to follow through with their threats. 1. Not a chance in hell! 2. Will do 3. Ditto, although may need to just type what they say 4. Stupidity and the thought that I might save a few quid. I'm generally (and I know it might not seem like this) quite a moral and principled person. Work with the local food bank, politically active, work in social care. However, just had a stupid brainfade when it came to this. I wish they knew how sorry I am. Having said that, in all honesty I doubt I'd have felt particularly sorry if I'd gotten away with it, so that's something I'll have to have a long think about. I'd never ever steal from a small business or local shop and I guess part of me did think that big business is fair game. Totally wrong of me, I know.

Thanks for your response. Jjust to clarify, they can't/ won't contact my employer, can't/ won't ban me from every shop in the city centre and can't/ won't email my photo to all those shops? It's ironic as I always used to like gawping at the photos they publicised of shop lifters in the entrance to a particular shop near where I used to live but now I'm terrified that the same will happen to me or that shop assistants in all the shops that I frequent (some of whom I know) will all see the photo of me and know I tried to steal.

Got caught stealing today (£20 worth). Horribly ashamed of myself. Got taken in to a little room by 2 store detectives and there was another already in there. As soon as I was stopped, one of them noticed my works ID round my neck and removed my pass which had my details on it. The paperwork was completed quite quickly and as seems to be the norm on here, no police were called, I received a letter banning me from all B&Qs and told that my details would be passed on to the civil recovery people who would send me a fine (which I shall ignore, yes?). However, one of the guards started saying that he knew my face (I haven't been stopped by security/ whatever before). The other guy starts saying that I was also going to be banned from every shop in the local city centre (the B&Q is a mile or so out of the town in a retail park) and that my photo was going to be passed on to every shop in the city. He then said I should tell my employer because it's better than they find out from me than when they see my picture on this city-wide banning order. They then proceeded to take my photo with 2 separate cameras (one was on a phone which looked official, the other on a tablet which again seemed to be part of their office rather than any of their personal property). A large part of me thinks this stinks of BS and they were trying to frighten me - there were lots of inconsistencies in what they were telling me and when I asked for details of this banning order, he just told me to google a 4 letter acronym (which I've since forgotten) - but I do feel a bit uneasy and wondered what the people on here thought. Thanks in advance.