A long-serving Sainsbury’s worker has allegedly been sacked after tackling an aggressive Champagne thief just hours after helping perform CPR on a security guard who collapsed in-store.

Gary MacArthur, who had worked for 15 years as a shop assistant at Sainsbury’s in West Wickham, south-east London, was dismissed in March following an incident involving a repeat shoplifter in December 2025.

According to LBC, MacArthur was fired for gross misconduct after the supermarket said he had failed to follow its guidance on preventing incidents from escalating.

The dismissal came after the store’s security guard suffered a suspected stroke earlier in the day, leaving the branch without security cover.

MacArthur said he and another colleague were first on the scene when the guard collapsed at around 2.30pm.

“My security guard started at 1pm and he didn’t seem right in himself – he looked lighter in his colour,” he told LBC. “Around 2.30, he had a stroke on the shop floor. Me and another colleague were the first at his scene, did a bit of CPR and called the ambulance… he was rushed to hospital.”

MacArthur said he had agreed to stay more than an hour after his shift was due to end to help colleagues feel safer, as the store was being run by an all-female team without a security guard.

He said: “I finish up at 9pm, [and] as I go to take my headpiece off, I’ve got all the girls screaming in my ear going ‘come down, we’ve got an aggressive Champagne thief.’”

The shoplifter was said to be a repeat offender who had regularly targeted the branch for high-value bottles including Moët, Bollinger and Veuve Clicquot.

MacArthur said he confronted the man and physically escorted him from the store. He then found a bag containing several bottles, believed to have been taken from a neighbouring store, hidden in a bush outside and took it back inside.

However, by the time he returned the goods to the stockroom, the shoplifter had re-entered the store and begun smashing bottles, reportedly throwing two towards MacArthur’s manager and another colleague.

When the thief grabbed four more bottles, a customer blocked his exit with a trolley, after which MacArthur and the customer restrained him on the floor until police arrived.

Three months later, MacArthur was dismissed for gross misconduct. His appeal, heard at the start of April, was unsuccessful.

It is understood Sainsbury’s concluded that MacArthur’s decision to remove the man from the store had escalated the situation. He had previously been given a written warning in August 2025 after challenging another person who had attempted to steal from the branch.

MacArthur told LBC: “The job was my life, really. I don’t have much. The friends that I do have are generally my work colleagues.”

He added: “It’s not even thieving these days – it’s pure looting. People know it is, people see it and they don’t do anything… There is no civic duty.”

The case is the latest in a growing number of incidents where supermarket workers have lost their jobs after confronting shoplifters.

Last month, Morrisons manager Sean Egan said he had been dismissed after almost three decades with the business for restraining a repeat offender at its Aldridge store in Walsall.

Egan said he had “never felt so unheard, unseen, and disposable” after being let go for breaching the supermarket’s “deter-and-not-detain” policy.

Weeks earlier, a Waitrose worker was also dismissed after attempting to stop a suspected shoplifter from stealing Easter eggs.

The incidents have sparked debate over how retailers should balance staff safety with the public expectation that theft should be challenged.

Met Police assistant commissioner Matt Twist recently told LBC that supermarket workers should not be losing their jobs for “doing public-spirited things”, although he acknowledged that retailers face a difficult balance in preventing staff from putting themselves at risk.

Usdaw general secretary Joanne Thomas said the union would not comment on individual cases, but urged retailers not to “rush to a dismissal” when staff breach policy in stressful or dangerous situations.

“We know how difficult and frightening it can be for staff to see thieves come into their store and help themselves, often in a threatening and abusive manner, and we recognise that being told to stand back can be frustrating,” she said.

“In those circumstances, Usdaw would seek for our members to be given additional support, mentoring and training by the company.”

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We are seeing incidents of violence, aggression and theft happening in our stores on a daily basis, threatening the safety of colleagues and customers.

“We are responding by investing in extra security measures, ensuring addressing this issue remains a Government priority and sharing intelligence with police forces around the country, not asking our colleagues to put their safety on the line by tackling offenders.

“That’s why our guidance to colleagues on responding to retail crime prioritises keeping everyone in our stores safe and is specifically designed to prevent incidents from escalating.”

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