Walker Smith, 54, who has worked as a store assistant at Waitrose for the past 17 years, has been fired for trying to stop a shoplifter. 

This is the damming series of events that took place at Waitrose’s Clapham Junction branch: a customer alerted Smith to a thief filling a bag with Lindt chocolate eggs (£13 a pop). Recognising a repeat offender, Walker grabbed the bag. In the brief ensuing tussle, the bag split, spilling chocolate onto the floor. The thief fled and Smith picked up a fragment of a chocolate bunny and hurled it at some trolleys in frustration (he emphasised he had not been aiming at the shoplifter). That was enough to earn him a reprimand, and he offered an apology. Nonetheless, days later, he was informed he had been fired and was led out via the back door. Smith acknowledged that he had been told previously not to approach shoplifters but said he was frustrated at seeing them always get away with it. He says he may now be made homeless. In a statement, Waitrose has declared, ‘Nothing we sell is worth risking lives for’ and that all the correct procedures were followed.

While this may be one of the most maddeningly egregious examples, the same mentality of punishing the do-gooder is now rife in our country

While this may be one of the most maddeningly egregious examples, the same mentality of punishing the do-gooder is now rife in our country

This supermarket worker exhibited the sort of personal responsibility and gumption that any........

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