Watch: Dramatic footage shows the moment a police officer apprehends a 'serial shop thief' in Wolverhampton
By Paul Jenkins
Published 1st Feb 2026, 14:14 BST
Updated 1st Feb 2026, 14:22 BST
Police have released footage of a quick thinking officer detaining a prolific Wolverhampton shop thief after spotting him in the laundry aisle of a store in the city.
Martin Johnson hoped to make a clean getaway from the shop in Oxley on January 22 but was spotted in the laundry aisle by Sergeant Peter Stephenson of West Midlands Police's Low Hill, Bushbury and Fallings Park team.
Sergeant Stephenson was already aware of a known shop thief who was repeatedly striking at a shop in the Oxley Moor Road area of the city with goods valued at around £2,000 being taken in just a few months.
At around 8.40pm he saw Johnson, sprang into action and arrested him.
Johnson is now behind bars after pleading guilty at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court to 18 counts of shop theft between November 2025 and 20 January 2026 - he was jailed for a year.