A retired police officer has been fined for pursuing a shoplifter in his car while the offender escaped prosecution.
Norman Brennan, 64, said the criminal justice system was completely “broken” after a thief he followed for nearly two miles before he was arrested was let off, while he received a fine from the local council for a traffic offence.
Mr Brennan confronted the shoplifter outside a Sainsbury’s in Twickenham Green, south-west London, before the offender turned and fled.
He followed him in his car before helping to arrest him and retraced the man’s steps where he found nine stolen expensive bottles of wine hidden behind a block of flats in a backpack.
Shoplifter neither fined nor cautioned
The shoplifter was neither fined nor cautioned after the manager of the Sainsbury’s decided not to press charges but Mr Brennan later received a fine of £130 from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames for driving the wrong way down a one-way street during the pursuit.
The amount has since risen to £195 after Mr Brennan did not pay the fine.
In a letter refusing his appeal against the decision, the council said that while it understood he was following an alleged shoplifted “you had no legal authority to enter this road”.
Mr Brennan told the Mail on Sunday that at the time he had been doing less than 5mph and had been talking to a 999 operator on his hands-free, describing the incident as a “farcical episode”.
‘Absolute farce’
“What a complete waste of my time and an absolute farce,” he told the newspaper.
“The only one being punished here is me. This was a rare situation in which everything was handed to the police and Sainsbury’s on a plate – all the evidence and the culprit himself – but it still resulted in the guy walking free.
“Big supermarkets need to get serious about tackling shoplifting by declaring that they will take action. The police are in the middle of this, not really bothering because they know that on the rare occasions cases do get to court the offenders are let off with a conditional discharge or a small fine or a community order.
“The Government has promised a crackdown on this crime, which the police can’t fulfil. It’s all a big mess. The criminal justice system is broken, not fit for purpose.”
He said the incident undermined policing minister Chris Philp’s appeal to the public to help tackle shoplifting by making citizen’s arrests when they spot thieves stealing.
Retired in 2009
Mr Brennan, a former British Transport Police detective constable, retired in 2009 after 32 years service.
He is the founder of the Protect the Protectors campaign calling for better protection for police officers, which successfully campaigned for police to carry side-handled batons, stab-resistant vests and CS spray.
Describing the incident in October, Mr Brennan said he was having a coffee in his car when he heard a shout and saw a man in his 30s running past with a rucksack.
“I know the staff in Sainsbury’s and saw one of them chasing him,” he said. “I followed in my car, drove in front of him, jumped out and confronted him, but he turned and ran off behind a block of flats.”
Unable to pursue on foot
Mr Brennan, who has caught 29 shoplifters since retiring, said he was unable to pursue him on foot because of arthritic knees and waited for the thief to reappear before trailing him discreetly in his car to an industrial estate.
While doing this he spoke to a 999 operator who promised back-up and that if he hadn’t turned onto the one way street he would have lost sight of the offender.
“I am an advanced police driver and was extremely careful when driving – or rather crawling – down this road.
“I was staggered by the response from Richmond – cold and dispassionate and lacking any common sense. Surely they could have exercised discretion.”
He said that when police arrived he told them where the shoplifter was hiding and he was arrested. Mr Brennan then recovered the back pack with most of the wine broken and when he went to the store the manager was being interviewed by police but no action was taken.
‘Steal whatever you like’
“The message seems to be that in today’s Britain you can go into a supermarket and steal whatever you like, safe in the knowledge that even if caught by police you won’t be punished,” Mr Brennan added.
“I’ve been left to spend hours appealing against this stupid fine – which has now gone up to £195.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Officers responded to a report of shoplifting after a man stole several bottles of wine from a shop in Twickenham. He was detained nearby. Officers spoke with staff at the shop who did not wish to pursue the matter further.”
A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said: “The safety of our colleagues and customers is our highest priority. We are in contact with the police about this incident.”
