Morrisons worker of 30 years is sacked for tackling teenage shoplifter after bosses said she ‘put company reputation in jeopardy’ for not following ‘deter not detain’ policy

A Morrisons worker with 30 years of karate training was sacked for tackling a teenage shoplifter after bosses said he jeopardized the company’s reputation for failing to follow a “deterrence, not arrest” policy.

Jane Pilborough, 62, was the only member of staff who tried to stop the teenage thief’s attempts to smuggle pockets of ‘chicken bites’ from the Newark store.

The grandmother insisted the supermarket chain was following its much-criticised ‘detain, deter’ policy and tried to persuade the fraudster to return to pay for the hot meal.

As he approached the exit, the tramp ‘made a sudden move’, causing him to grab his backpack in what the store employee described as a ‘natural instinct’.

Mrs Pilborough has no recollection of what happened as she has been in ‘fight or flight mode’ from then on.

But security cameras showed the woman falling to the ground after the thief turned to shake her off before leaving the store. He thought he was 18 or 19, but it later turned out he was 14 or 15.

Clearly shaken, Ms Pilborough suffered minor injuries to her hand and knee before being helped to her feet and taken to the store’s staff canteen.

But days later, instead of praising his bravery, bosses launched disciplinary proceedings against him in August 2024.

At the end of the month, his three-decade career at Morrisons, with a previously unblemished record, came to an unceremonious end.

He was fired for gross misconduct and accused of trying to lure her back into the store in what was described as a ‘tiff’.

Ms Pilborough told the Daily Mail that being made redundant left her feeling like she had been thrown into the scrapyard.

‘I’m still angry about the way I was treated,’ he said.

Referring to the recent incident surrounding the sacking of Morrisons manager Sean Egan, he added: ”Yes, it’s still happening. I thought, ‘They’re still getting rid of people.'” I mean, I wasn’t the only one.

“Obviously, the union representative couldn’t go into specifics, but it appears there were several other people at the intersection at the same time.” [as my case]They just decided there was a hard line. ‘They were just firing the people involved.’

He was serving as a team leader and was one of 15 employees, including security; He was wearing headphones to listen to the duty manager’s calls for intervention when a group of teenagers were suspected of stealing.

Mrs Pilborough said: ‘At that time [the duty manager] The wording used was that there was someone hiding in the store.

‘She actually stated that she wanted him to stop and told him to close the doors. Obviously this was true for anyone using headphones. But security did not respond. I found myself in an impossible situation; I saw this person walk straight through one of the tills after passing the final checkout.’

He said the teenager then walked backwards in front of him and asked him to return to pay. He denied and denied taking food despite his pockets being ‘bulging’.

While talking to the young man, he called again via headset to ask security to intervene, but did not receive an answer.

Pilborough, who watched the training video titled ‘Recognizing and reacting to theft’ two weeks before the incident, said: ‘When we approached the doors, he made a sudden move. I can’t remember exactly what happened next. My mind blanked it out.

‘Apparently, from what I’ve been told, I’ve automatically gone into fight or flight mode, and your mind is actually blocking that.

‘But all I can remember is the feeling of falling. Next thing I know I’m on the ground and he’s running away.’

Police were called but the investigation was abandoned because the CCTV ‘did not actually prove anything’, according to Ms Pilborough’s disciplinary notes seen by the Daily Mail.

He told bosses during the investigation that he felt ‘automatic reaction and karate training’. [had] He turned against me’.

A few days after the disciplinary meeting, a penalty letter seen by the Daily Mail said he had been given the decision to terminate his employment.

‘Your actions put yourself in danger, the lives of your co-workers and other customers who were shopping at the time,’ the message reads.

‘This situation could have been avoided if you had chosen to follow company procedure. Instead, you have put the company’s reputation at risk as this could be filmed and shared on social media at any time.’

The letter also criticized him for ignoring the company’s policy and suggested he could face criminal charges for trying to physically stop a teenage thief.

Ms Pilborough says she still feels resentful towards her former employers and feels her karate training has gone against her

Ms Pilborough, who has since found another job, appealed the decision but it was approved following a meeting in October that year.

In their ruling, bosses said her care for the workplace was ‘admirable’, but said Ms Pilborough’s ‘actions led to the exacerbation of a situation which could have been made worse by allowing the burglar to leave the premises’.

Morrisons is believed to introduce its new theft policy in 2023, which includes offering hampers to suspected thieves rather than challenging them.

A post on Reddit last year by a person claiming to be a supermarket worker said staff were told to dissuade them with “customer service”.

‘If you see them stuffing things into their shirts, you should go there and offer them a basket for the items they clearly can’t carry,’ they wrote.

‘Not always, but most will put whatever it is back, or at least leave when they realize you’re after them.’

Disciplinary notes for Ms Pilborough’s case state she ‘went beyond the point of offering a basket’.

Morrisons told the Mail that staff do not offer hampers to suspected shoplifters when a crime is committed.

A spokesman for the supermarket said: ‘We recognize that difficult situations such as this can cause real difficulties for our colleagues in store. Therefore, when dealing with a shoplifter, a colleague’s safety is always the number one priority and that is why we have clear procedures in place to de-escalate incidents, preventing any of our colleagues from being compromised and harmed in a physical struggle.

‘We believe that the safety of colleagues always outweighs the preservation of stock. We cannot ignore the potential for violence and it is important to remember that only the police have the authority to intervene in these situations.

‘Sadly, his former colleague’s behavior and the evidence at the disciplinary hearing showed that although he had been trained on how to safely respond to a shoplifting situation just a few weeks before the incident, he did not follow this procedure, leading to a physical altercation with a teenage shoplifter.

‘The matter was fully investigated and unfortunately the disciplinary committee’s recommendation was for him to be dismissed. This was upheld on appeal.’