内容摘要：The festival raises money for the charity Laybo's Legacy which helps families with financial aid towards funeral costs of loved ones lost to suicide.

The festival raises money for the charity Laybo's Legacy which helps families with financial aid towards funeral costs of loved ones lost to suicide.

"You can deal with someone for a £50 shoplift, but when you're dealing with them for 20 shopliftings for £1,000, ultimately the courts see it a little bit differently, and that sentencing changes," explains PC Pete Blunden.He tells me that before Operation Kelleher, local shops were being "cleaned out" and many offences were not being reported.

I put it to him that perhaps some business owners had simply lost confidence that police would do anything about it."I do get that. Because a lot of stores, initially their thought process is, 'What's the point? You're not going to support us, nothing's going to happen, nothing's going to change.'"PC Blunden says it's been essential to create good relationships and prove police are taking it seriously, while simultaneously getting to know exactly who the prolific offenders are.

"I know them by face and name, and they know me by face and name as well."So when I stop and engage with them, even to say hello, it's me telling them, I know they're there, and them saying, 'Pete's around, PC Blunden's around.'"

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that shoplifting rose by 54% across London last year compared with 2023.

Almost 90,000 shoplifting offences were recorded in the capital in 2024, up from roughly 58,000 the previous year.If convicted on the racketeering charge, Mr Combs faces up to life in prison.

He faces another statutory minimum sentence of 15 years if he is found guilty of sex trafficking.Transportation for purposes of prostitution carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Mr Combs has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, since his arrest on 16 September 2024.Critics describe the prison as overcrowded and understaffed, with a culture of violence.