SHOPLIFTERS and other trouble makers could find themselves banned from shops in the centre of Marlborough if a new security system takes off in the town.

Local businesspeople attended a presentation at the Ivy House Hotel on Monday by former Wiltshire police officer Brian Hinton, who has founded Shopwatch as part of his SWS security business, which he set up when he left the force after 26 years as a bobby on the beat.

He told the Gazette: "The business evolved from my own experiences in the force, especially the rise in petty crime as youngsters as young as ten commit offences because of peer pressure.

"Under the Shopwatch system, they can find themselves banned from every shop in the town bearing a Shopwatch sticker. They will find that very limiting."

Local police are supporting Shopwatch because it is a low-cost means of keeping all its members informed of crime in their area.

Subscribers are texted to their mobile phones with a message to ring one of two freephone numbers, where they will receive details of alerts on crimes being committed.

Mr Hinton said that if Shopwatch was in operation in London on July 7, many people could have been given fuller details of the security alert much earlier.

He said: "It is very frustrating. Since I started talking to senior officers in London in 2001, there have been changes of both Metropolitan Commissioner of Police and Home Secretary. I have spoken to five senior officers who are no longer in post and each time you have to start again from scratch."

He has high hopes of Shopwatch taking off in Marlborough because it has the support, not only of the police, but of the town council and the chamber of commerce.