Dear Nicole_Ade and angrysheep2023,
A. “Are not allowed to do this by law…” generally if someone tells you this, you should ask what law they were referring. I have checked the usual channels (Fair Trading department, sales of goods act, crimes act) and didn’t find any law regarding this.
B. “Breach of confidentiality” there is an implied duty of care between the shopkeeper and the shoplifter, but duty to keep an alleged criminal act confidential is unlikely to be held up in court.
C. “They have not been to court to proven guilty of an offence” that is partially true - the requirements to prove guilt of theft (larceny) require a number of things and it is quite possible with merely a photo this person may not be guilty of larceny, or may have some form of defence. However display of a CCTV still image itself isn’t illegal, when the photo itself is not in any private place and there is no presumption of privacy.
D. Under the Defamation Act 2005, a person must not publish matters that may or could potentially may be defamatory of another living person if they know the matter to be false, or with intent to cause serious harm to the victim. This includes a noticeboard in a shop and comments on the internet. Courts have awarded large sums in damages to a person’s reputation.
E. It is not against the law to post such images or make public appeals for help to identify someone, but shopkeepers should have a lawyer check the wording of the notice to avoid a potential claim for damages for defamation. For someone who wishes to challenge the shopkeeper‘s putting up CCTV image, probably it is difficult unless this someone is in the photo - complaint to police or fair trading department isn’t likely to have result as there is no law broken, but someone could allege defamation, but then this someone would need to be prepared to show he/she didn’t steal from the Shop.
F. ”I think this forum is not running, very quiet…” really? I’ve seen a few active posters and various irregulars. I myself check new posts whenever I am not busy - which is not often.
Good luck!
-Nighthelyn
