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  "path": "/2026/04/21/morrisons-manager-who-worked-for-store-for-29-years-sacked-for-tackling-spitting-shoplifter-28059086/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-21T10:16:43.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "UK",
    "Crime News",
    "Morrisons",
    "West Midlands",
    "BBC News",
    "News Updates",
    "Breaking News",
    "health",
    "reaching the highest level since records began",
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    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Sean Egan, who had worked for Morrisons for nearly 30 years, was sacked after stopping a prolific thief (Picture: Sean Egan)\n\nA supermarket manager who was fired after tackling a shoplifter said he is ‘barely surviving’.\n\nSean Egan, who had worked for Morrisons for nearly 30 years, stopped a prolific thief as he tried to leave the branch in Aldridge, West Midlands, with stolen goods.\n\nAs Sean tried to escort the shoplifter off the premises, the thief started spitting on him and an altercation ensued before the police were called.\n\nBut the 46-year-old, who has worked for Morrisons since he was 17, was sacked because he did not follow the company’s deter-and-not-detain policy.\n\nHe told BBC News: ‘As the store manager, I put myself in a position to protect my staff and customers. There’s a lot of pressure in retail to protect the product, to not lose money, as you would in any business and I tried to do that\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\n‘I’ve given so much to a business where I’ve actually lived for work… but in that moment I felt like everything I had given was attacked.’\n\nSean had worked at Morrisons for nearly 30 years (Picture: Sean Egan)\n\nDuring the altercation, the thief reached into his bag to grab an item, which Sean said prompted him to ‘instantly react’.\n\nHe said: ‘My thought is, “I’ve got to stop this guy. I don’t know what he’s going to do, not only to me, but anybody else”.’\n\nSean and his family are now ‘struggling to survive’ with his family and his last pay slip was received in January.\n\nMorrisons said: ‘We are continuing to take wide-ranging action to address the threat of shoplifting or violence in our stores.\n\nSean described the job as somehwere where he ‘lived to work’ (Picture: Sean Egan)\n\n‘The health and safety of all colleagues and customers is of paramount importance to Morrisons. We have very clear guidance, procedures and controls in place to protect our colleagues and customers from the risk of harm, which must be strictly followed.\n\n‘These include detailed procedures for handling shoplifting incidents, which are in place to protect both the colleague involved and surrounding colleagues and customers, and which seek to de-escalate and calmly control the situation. We will not ask colleagues to put themselves at risk.\n\n‘As a responsible employer, our focus is entirely on taking the correct action to ensure health and safety is maintained at all times.’\n\nShoplifting incidents rose 20% year-on-year to 2024, reaching the highest level since records began, according to official figures, and in 2025, soared another 5%.\n\nAnd just 5.9% of thefts recorded led to a charge as of March 2025.\n\nMet Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley placed the blame on shops, who told the Home Affairs Committee in February that shopkeepers need to ‘do better’.\n\nHe said: ‘We encourage them all to report it, and the good stores have got really good security regimes and report it and help us out in ways that I’ll come to in a moment. Some stores don’t.\n\n‘Some of them don’t report anything, if we go there they don’t give us the CCTV of the crime, they won’t give us any statements, they don’t give their staff time to give statements, and they don’t pay their staff to go to court to give evidence.’\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Morrisons manager who worked for store for 29 years sacked for tackling spitting shoplifter"
}