Employee who stopped shoplifter stealing Easter eggs sacked
LONDON: A long-serving employee was sacked after stopping a suspected shoplifter stealing a bag of luxury Easter eggs.
Walker Smith, 54, was working at the supermarket’s Clapham Junction branch in south London when a shopper alerted him to the alleged theft.
“They told me someone had filled up a bag with the eggs,” he said.
Mr Smith said the suspect was known to staff and had targeted the store before.
He confronted the individual and “grabbed the bag”, but the person pulled it back, leading to a brief struggle.
The bag split during the scuffle, sending Lindt Gold Bunny Easter eggs, worth £13 each, crashing to the floor. The shoplifter then fled.
Mr Smith picked a piece of one of the eggs, which had broken, and “threw it out of frustration” towards some shopping trolleys, but he was not aiming it at the shoplifter, he told the media.
Mr Smith said he was previously told not to approach shoplifters but the toll of repeatedly seeing them get away with theft spurred him into action.
“I’ve been there 17 years. I’ve seen it happen every hour of every day for the last five years,” he said.
“It’s everybody from drug addicts to teenagers nicking bits and bobs or walking out with bottles of wine in their arms. We’re not allowed to do anything.”
He said security had been scaled back in the shop, with no guards working on Mondays and Tuesdays because “shoplifting incidents aren’t reported enough”.
A few days later Mr Smith was hauled into a meeting with two store managers.
He made a final plea, telling his bosses “Waitrose is like my family”, but he was still dismissed.
“They led me out the back door by the bins. I just felt demoralised,” he said.
Mr Smith said he was not a “bad, violent or aggressive person”.
“I just got frustrated seeing this day in and day out and not seeing Waitrose do much about it.”
A spokesman said: “We’ve had incidents where our Partners have been hospitalised when challenging shoplifters. Luckily, they have always recovered, but that might not always be the case.
“There is a serious danger to life in tackling shoplifters. We refuse to put anyone’s life at risk and that’s why we have policies in place that are very clearly understood and must be strictly followed.
“As a responsible employer, we never want to be in a position where we are notifying families of a tragedy because someone tried to stop a theft. Nothing we sell is worth risking lives for.
“The reporting on this does not cover the full facts of the situation. While we would never be able to discuss an individual case, we can assure you the correct process is being followed, which includes a standard appeals procedure.
“We have campaigned for some time for more to be done to protect shop workers from offenders, including retail crime being made into a specific standalone offence.”
Official figures show there were 519,381 shoplifting offences recorded in England and Wales in the year to September 2025, a 5 per cent rise on the 492,660 logged the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
That total is just below the record 530,643 offences recorded in the 12 months to March 2025.
A group of youths caused disorder in London last week, including invading a Marks & Spencer shop in Clapham.
M&S retail director Thinus Keeve criticised Sir Sadiq Khan for failing to get a grip on crime and warned that lawlessness was putting the public at risk.
Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Keeve said: “Without a Government seriously cracking down on crime and a mayor that prioritises effective policing, we are powerless.”
Sainsbury’s is reportedly considering giving guards protective clothing following a number of violent assaults.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, a Sainsbury’s security source said: “The company is going to buy stab vests for us.
“It’s sad, but necessary.
“A guy got stabbed at one shop the other day and people try to steal at all times of day.”
