London, Dec 22 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A British priest is advising people who are in desperate situations to go ahead and shoplift from chain and retail stores. Reverend Tim Jones said society “leaves some people little option but crime,” the BBC reported.

This priest was concerned about how the poor deal with the festive season and sometimes have no food to eat at all. The Anglican clergyman made these controversial suggestions while addressing the topic of how poverty-stricken people deal with the holiday season during his Sunday sermon. He was concerned about how the poor would survive in the cold festive season, without the basic amenities like food. So he advises the people to shoplift food items so that they do not starve.

The Daily Mail newspaper reported that Jones said it “is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve.”

“My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift,” he told parishioners in the northern England city of York. He however clarified that he doesn’t think that stealing is a good thing, but he was concerned about the well being of the poor, so he was making such suggestions in their interest.

And he okays stealing, but only from retail chain stores, and not from just any shop. “I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.”