Shoplifters let off

SIR – Shoplifting costs the economy more than £6 billion a year and means that law-abiding shoppers have to pay more for their goods, but the police say they lack the resources to investigate reports of routine theft (report, December 27).

However, they can apparently afford to spend millions of pounds and countless hours investigating reported instances of historic sexual abuse – even in cases where the alleged perpetrator is dead and cannot be charged. Mary Bantick

Alton, Hampshire