Sainsbury's employee sacked after 15 years for confronting champagne thief hours after he saved security guard

A long-serving Sainsbury's worker sacked for apprehending a notorious thief hours after he helped save the life of the store's security guard says the company's decision has left him devastated. Shop assistant Gary MacArthur was fired after 15 years of service for tackling a yob who was trying to steal Bollinger and Veuve Clicquot before he started throwing glass bottles. Earlier, the employee had been forced to perform CPR when his colleague collapsed after suffering a stroke. The thief had taken advantage of the lack of security to carry out the raid at the branch in West Wickham, south London , so Mr MacArthur stepped in to protect the shop and its customers. Recalling the day of the incident, he told LBC : “My security guard started at 1pm and he didn't seem right in himself - he looked lighter in his colour. 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.” “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," he added. Mr MacArthur recognised the shoplifter as a repeat offender who had regularly targeted the store and built up a local reputation bottle for pinching fancy champagne. Aware that the shoplifter had a reputation for aggression toward women, Mr MacArthur confronted him before physically escorting him from the store. After getting the man out of the store, he says he uncovered a bag containing what he believed were stolen bottles from a nearby store. He said he took the bag from the bush and took it into the store, returning the goods to the stockroom. But by the time he was done, the thief had returned to the store and began smashing bottles, throwing two toward Mr MacArthur's manager and another colleague. As the thief went to grab more bottles, a customer used a trolley to block their exit, which caused the thief to become more aggressive. Mr MacArthur and the customer restrained the shoplifter, holding him on the floor until police arrived. The incident happened in December 2025, and just three months later, Mr MacArthur was sacked for gross misconduct after failing to observe Sainsbury's guidance on "preventing incidents." LBC report the letter sent to the man stated that, despite the shoplifter lobbing bottles at his colleagues, he should have acted only as a “visual deterrent”. He told the station : “The job was my life, really. I don't have much. The friends that I do have are generally my work colleagues. I've got a couple of people who are really close to me. Apart from that, I've got five fish tanks and two snakes, and that's pretty much me.” He attempted to appeal the decision, which was heard at the start of April, but was ultimately unsuccessful. It is understood that in August 2025, Mr MacArthur had been given a prior written warning after challenging another thief attempting to steal goods. It comes after a store manager who worked at Morrisons for 29 years said he was sacked after tackling a repeated shoplifter who reportedly became aggressive. Sean Egan, 46, said he is "barely surviving" after he was kicked out of his Morrisons job, despite having worked since he was just 17 years old. 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."