AGGRESSIVE teenage yobs have been accused of terrorising shopkeepers in Shoebury, brazenly swigging from stolen cans and intimidating shop staff.

The owner of the family-run Londis, in Shoebury High Street, has claimed that in recent months, shoplifting has skyrocketed, with many incidents being carried out by the same offenders.

CCTV from the shop shows a group of at least five teenagers stealing from the store, opening cans of drink and intimidating shop staff on Sunday evening.

Shop manager, Niroshan Vijendranaphan, 35, has said that while the footage accurately represents the issue, at times he has to deal with groups of up to 16 youths.

“On Sunday night, a bunch of kids, aged around 14 or 15, came into the store after already being told that they were banned.” said Niroshan.

“They came in a group of around eight or nine boys and nine girls. They came straight in and began to take food and open drinks. I told them to leave, and they didn’t listen at all.”

According to Niroshan, the youths drank from stolen cans as they swore and laughed at staff, shouting “you can’t touch me” and “you can’t do anything”.

Niroshan said that whilst he has been in regular contact with the police, he claims the force has been unable to make any significant progress on deterring these repeat offenders.

The incident on Sunday was witnessed by Londis customer Gabbie Burt, 22, who has lived in Shoebury all of her life and described it as “horrible” and “defeating”.

She claimed that shoplifting has increased despite describing Shoebury as a “ghost town”.

“People can get away with doing what they want because there’s no one to stop them and it is having a massive impact on the shopkeeper,” she added.

Sgt Christian Denning, from Essex Police, said: “We take every shoplifting report seriously and always look to secure charges where we have the evidence to do so.

“Often this will be CCTV footage and witness statements provided by the retailers themselves.”