Black veteran’s Morrisons ban over shoplifting allegations | Global News Avenue

A former police officer banned from all Morrisons stores in the UK after he was wrongly accused of shoplifting has called for an apology.

Jez Daniels believes he was “racized” by staff who accused him of acting suspiciously while buying rosé wine and chocolate at a Newport shop.

He said he was wearing a mask due to coronavirus restrictions at the time, adding: “They saw a black man covering his face and thought he must be here to steal something.”

Morrison said he did not want to comment.

Mr Daniels, an RAF veteran in his 40s, said he was now “very uncomfortable” in the supermarket.

In February 2022, he was followed around the Morrisons store in Rogerstone, Newport, during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Daniels said: “I am wearing a surgical mask – in line with store policy and in line with Welsh Government legislation.”

He planned to buy wine and chocolates for the children but said he realized staff were following him.

“I knew right away that they thought I was a thief,” he said.

“I thought, OK, well, if I keep doing what I’m doing, the staff will realize I’m not trying to steal – and they’ll let me go.”

He then picked up some chips and said he even opened the shopping bag to show he wasn’t trying to hide anything.

Mr Daniels, a former police officer in both forces and a volunteer firefighter, said: “They cornered me in the aisle.

“They had staff on both ends – I started to fear for my safety.”

He decided to leave, at which point a staff member approached him, told him he was banned and left.

“I’m very disappointed,” he added.

“Frankly, I think it’s because they see a black man with his face covered and they think he must be here to steal something.”

He contacted Morrisons’ headquarters but said he was “outraged” by their response.

An email from the company to Mr Daniels, seen by BBC Wales, said: “You can now no longer shop with us or enter a Morrisons store.

“This decision was made based on the behavior you have recently observed in the store.”

In other documents seen by BBC Wales, a member of staff said Mr Daniels shouted “offensive and abusive language”.

Another employee said they became suspicious when he “entered the store without a basket or cart” and “went straight to the liquor aisle.”

Daniels said he was also accused of picking up £200 worth of spirits, which he denied.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of people since Morrison, including white people,” he said.

“I told them some of the questionable things Morrison said and they said ‘but I did it and I’ve never been stopped’.”

Daniels runs a cyber security business from his Newport office and counts the British government among his clients.

He used his professional knowledge to make Data subject access request – which requires the supermarket to provide CCTV footage of him and statements from staff.

After viewing the CCTV footage, Mr Daniels said he “feeled vindicated”.

He said he had come to doubt his memory of what happened, but added: “The CCTV footage is consistent with my recollection of the incident and they do not show what Morrison said.

“They didn’t show that I was aggressive. They didn’t make me abandon the trolley. They didn’t show that I was in possession of £200 worth of spirits.

“Even talking about it now is triggering.”

Mr Daniels then used his own footage to confront Morrison.

An email from the corporation, seen by BBC Wales, acknowledged “discrepancies between the statement provided by the store and what the CCTV footage shows” but did not comment on the allegation that he took £200 worth of alcohol.

The email said it was lifting the ban “as a goodwill gesture” but it went on to accuse Mr Daniels of “behaving suspiciously” and acting aggressively.

It added that there was “no racial motivation behind the complaint” and that one staff member denied being racist.

Mr Daniels said he now wants an apology and an admission that what happened was wrong.

“They insist it’s all my fault – I now want Morrison to admit their staff were wrong,” he said.

He now tries to avoid supermarkets and the incident leaves him feeling “anxious and frightened”.

“Just the whole supermarket environment, I felt uncomfortable in it, so I shopped online,” he said.

Mr Daniels is so worried about “consumer racial profiling” – where shoppers believe they are being approached because of the color of their skin – that he teaches children “defense techniques” to avoid being accused of shoplifting.

“This is not a new phenomenon — I’ve lived here my whole life,” he said.

“It’s only in the last five years that the rest of society has begun to acknowledge that it exists.”