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Wally Worrall - Thief or cry for help?


just john

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AWT - A Wine Thief ?

Actually it beggars belief - frankly one of his restaurants is local to me and I'm unimpressed, we wouldn't go again unless it changes hands (in fact when we went for lunch we asked for a table for two for a 'nice lunch' and the waiter said 'what have you come here for then' !!)however why would you need to steal cheese or wine or indeed any food or drink when you can buy it wholesale through your business ? I just hope he wasn't stealing food and than selling it at his restaurants.

As for the Alzheimer's remark, no, 60 is not too young, but this rather smells of wanting to put an acceptable spin on his actions to me....

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[quote user="PaulT"]I thought Tescos had sign that said 'we always prosecute shoplifters'. Obviously AWT is a special case.[/quote]

Its to save time and money when the person admits to the crime and the crime is classed as 'petty' i.e. low value. Whist not technically a conviction it does give the person a criminal record which stays with them for the rest of their lives. Should they commit a similar offence a previous caution can me bentioned. A caution is an official reprimand by the police.

Most first time shop lifters receive cautions especially if the value of the goods is low.

I feel sorry for the bloke and it's clear he needs some help. That's not an excuse for stealing though. Strange isn't it, he is just a chef who is well known yet many an PM who fiddled his or her expenses, often to the tune of thousands of pounds, unlike Worrel which was less than twenty quid, yet they were allowed to hand back the money and walk away without even a caution.

I had an aunt who was a manic depressive. When she was on a 'high' she did some strange things including shop lifting. You never know he might be suffering the same.

I know it's off topic but in the news update to the right of the article I couldn't help but notice that Eric Cantona wants to run in the French presidency elections, that should be fun.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9003925/Eric-Cantona-announces-bid-for-French-presidency.html

 

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Just a thought.

What ever the reasons are for AWT taking goods without paying for them, must surely have been made easier by going through a 'self-service' till. I personally hate these things and prefer to use tills where I can interact with the member of staff.

It would be interesting to know how much more stock has been lost since these were introduced.

 

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I saw on the BBC News this morning that this story was on the front page of some of the tabloids.....  what a joke. I don't even see it as a news story  at all.  Cook steals from supermarket... big deal.

As to passing comment on  his mental state??? I don't know the man, I've no idea, all I know is what is reported by the media and we know that much of that is just rubbish.

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[quote user="Mr Ice-ni"][quote user="Quillan"]

Most first time shop lifters receive cautions especially if the value of the goods is low.

[/quote]

How do you know that they are first-timers? But you probably mean first time caught.

John

[/quote]

Yes your right, that's what I meant.

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Does anyone remember Isobel Barnett, who used to appear on What's My Line?

She became severely depressed after the death of her husband and was prosecuted for shoplifting from her village shop. A few days after her conviction she was found dead in her bath - electrocuted from an electric fire which she had pulled into the water.

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[quote user="Clarkkent"]

Does anyone remember Isobel Barnett, who used to appear on What's My Line?

She became severely depressed after the death of her husband and was prosecuted for shoplifting from her village shop. A few days after her conviction she was found dead in her bath - electrocuted from an electric fire which she had pulled into the water.

[/quote]

Yes, I remember; it was so sad.

It must be obvious that some people have an illness, rather than being professional shoplifters, and a different way found for them. It seems that's what happened in AWT's case, as he hasn't been prosecuted, but it seems wrong that such a case brings so much publicity, which can't help the person involved. 

Tesco staff were sure that AWT was shoplifting and filmed him over several days for proof. They are clear that they always prosecute, or at least bring the police in, but as a well-known customer, surely something could have been said quietly. Not because he was AWT, but because he was well-known to them as a regular customer; surely the manager knew it was totally out of character. Stores do make huge losses from shoplifting and other forms of stealing, but I think less of Tesco than I did because of this case.

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"surely the manager knew it was totally out of character"

Maybe it wasn't though. Maybe he makes a habit of it. One of son's junior teachers who was supposedly a pillar of the community but who bullied the children in his class, turned out to be a raging alcoholic who shoplifted his booze from the local store on his way home. He hid it in his rucksack. Son had a part- time job there when he was at college and saw first- hand what he was doing. The reply was, oh hes been doing that for years and because of who he was he got away with it most of the time. It came out eventually but he managed to transfer to another school and carry on the same thing somewhere else presumably. So its not always as out of character as you might think. [:)]

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[quote user="just john "]

A bit harsh perhaps, I don't believe this kind of crime is all villainy and there surely is room for doubt (or reports), I just hope its not your granny next time . . . .

[/quote]

 Absolute nonsense, if you do the crime, and shop lifting is a crime;  when you get caught you should pay the penalty. If it had been "my granny" the police would have been called, and she would have been in court. Why should a so called celebrity be treated any differently. FFS he was seen stealing five times, how many  times did he get away with it? [:-))]

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Why call this crime "shoplifting"? What is wrong with"stealing"? For that is what it is - to many shoplifting sounds far less serious.

My view is that zero tolerance should be applied at all times in taking thieves to court (and all other criminals of course), if there are genuine mitigating circs then let the court take them into account.

Fines should be levied as a % of income - that's real equality.

John

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