A Co-op shopper tackled a shoplifter and pinned him down for 20 minutes while he waited for a police response. Heroic Steve Neale, 37, leapt into action in a Co-op branch in Kirk Sandall, Doncaster, after he spotted a man leaving the shop with a “full shopping basket” of goods.
A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson confirmed they had charged a suspect in relation to the incident, named as Peter Holmes, 42, with three counts of theft.
Holmes appeared at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court on February 28. He was given an 18 week suspended prison sentence for 18 months and ordered to undertake 50 hours of unpaid work.
Steve recalled the moment he walked into the store and said he saw an elderly member of staff trying to wrestle a basket from a man on Sunday evening.
He said: “I had just walked into the shop and as the doors opened, I saw the guy and he had hold of the basket.
“An elderly lady who works there was wrestling the basket off him and I just thought he was stealing from her. I just walked straight in and within two steps, I grabbed hold of him and we were wrestling. I threw him to the floor and then I sat on him.”
Steve added: “I sat on him for about 15 to 20 minutes while another member of staff was ringing the police.
“He was wriggling at first but then I told him to stop moving and he did.”
Steve’s friend Dan Walker, 56, walked into the shop to find his pal sitting on top of a man. He knew what was going on “straight away”.
READ MORE: Man has sex with lover on bollard neighbour put up to stop him parking
