The Guardian13 Jun 2026Macro
Automatically composed with AI from the cited sources
Eileen Fox, 56, was dismissed on 11 May from a One Stop store in Bootle, Merseyside, after grabbing the sleeve of a woman she accused of stealing bacon, a scuffle in which the suspected thief banged into a metal stand but no one was injured. A letter from One Stop seen by the BBC stated Fox had “grabbed her and slammed her into a metal stand”; Fox disputed this, saying she approached the woman at the shelf and took hold of her sleeve. Her dismissal follows earlier terminations at Waitrose and Morrisons of long-serving staff who confronted shoplifters, with One Stop stating colleagues are never to risk their own safety.