A former police officer was left in shock after it was revealed that staff at a shopping centre were being offered stab vests as attacks have surged in recent months.

The staff at the County Square centre in Ashford, Kent, were stunned to be given the vests that are typically worn by police officers and prison guards after management rolled out the new scheme initially just for security.

The drastic move was slammed as "truly astonishing" by Peter Bleksley, a former Met Police officer.

Speaking to GB News he said: "This whole story begs what has this once great nation come to?

"How much of a threat is a cleaner going to be to anybody, as they tidy up the mess that lazy others leave behind? It is truly astonishing. But of course, it's just a progression.

"And this is the rot with regards to retail crime that started around 2014 when the police, crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill got passed.

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"In that bill was a bit that said any shoplifting under £250 could not go to the higher courts.

"In other words, could not go to the Crown Court. So the police then decided to interpret that as well.

"They decided that any shoplifting beneath £250, we won't worry about.

"Consequently, there has been a drip, drip, drip of a lack of kind of authority on the streets.

"A lack of respect for shopkeepers and a consequent enormous increase in shoplifting and assaults on retail staff."

When asked who he blamed for the rise in shoplifting, the former Police officer said: "I blame the police.

"They, of course, will say, that this came amid the decade of austerity, and we had huge cuts to police numbers and then had to deploy resources elsewhere.

"Well, you know what? You reap what you sow if you leave.

"Some may regard them as minor crimes. And believe me, shoplifting is not a minor crime.

"If you're a one-man band trying to run that local retail outlet. It is not a minor crime.

"When you turn your backs on that, when you turn your backs on the shopkeepers, whether they be a corner shop or multinational corporation, this is what you get increased lawlessness and it goes way beyond shoplifting."