Black veteran’s Morrisons bans shoplifting charges

A former police sergeant who was banned from every Morrisons store in Britain after being wrongly accused of shoplifting has called for an apology.

Jez Daniels believes he has been “racially profiled” by staff, who accused him of behaving suspiciously while buying rose wine and chocolates at a shop in Newport.

He said he was wearing a face mask at the time due to Covid restrictions, adding: “They saw a black man with his face covered and assumed he must be here to steal.”

Morrisons said it had no comment.

Mr Daniels, an RAF veteran in his 40s, said he now felt “very uncomfortable” in supermarkets.

It was in February 2022, during the Covid pandemic, that he was followed by the Morrisons store in Rogerstone, Newport.

“I was wearing a surgical style face mask – in line with store policy and also Welsh Government legislation,” Mr Daniels said.

He planned to buy wine and chocolate for his children, but said he noticed staff following him.

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

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

He then grabbed some chips and said he even kept his grocery bag open to show he wasn’t trying to hide anything.

Mr Daniels, who served in two police forces and was also a volunteer firefighter, said: ‘They cornered me in the aisle.

“They had personnel on both sides – I started to fear for my safety.”

He decided to leave, after which he was approached by an employee who told him he had been banned and had to leave.

“I was very disappointed,” he added.

“To put it bluntly, I think it’s because they saw a black man with his face covered, and they thought he was there to steal.”

He contacted Morrisons head office but said he felt “outraged” by their response.

BBC Wales has seen an email from the company to Mr Daniels, which reads: “You can now no longer shop with us or enter a Morrisons store.

“The reason for this decision is due to your recent behavior as observed in the store.”

In other documents seen by BBC Wales, a staff member described Mr Daniels as shouting “aggressive, insulting words”.

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

Mr Daniels said he was also accused of taking £200 worth of spirits – something he denies.

“Since the Morrisons incident I’ve spoken to a lot of people, white people,” he said.

“I told them some of the things Morrisons said were suspicious – and they say ‘but I do, I’ve never been stopped’.”

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

He used his professional knowledge to create a Access request from data subject – for this purpose the supermarket was obliged to provide camera images and staff statements about him.

After watching the CCTV footage, Daniels said he “felt vindicated”.

He said he was beginning to doubt his memory of what happened, but added: ‘The CCTV footage matched my memory of events, it did not show what Morrisons claimed.

“They didn’t show that I was aggressive. They didn’t show me leaving the trolleys. They failed to show me that I was in possession of spirits worth £200.

“Even talking about it now is triggering.”

Mr Daniels then confronted Morrisons with his own images.

BBC Wales has seen an email from the company in which he acknowledges “discrepancies in the store’s statements and what the CCTV footage shows” but made no comment on allegations that he had consumed £200 worth of alcohol.

The email said “as a gesture of goodwill” that the ban was being lifted, but continued to accuse Mr Daniels of “acting suspiciously” and behaving aggressively.

It added that there was “no racist motivation behind the complaint”, and an employee denied being racist.

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

He said: “They insisted it was all my fault – what I would like now is an admission from Morrisons that their staff were wrong.”

He is now trying to avoid supermarkets, with the incident leaving him feeling “anxious and anxious”.

“It’s just the whole supermarket environment, I feel very uncomfortable in it, so I do my shopping online,” he said.

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

“It’s not a new phenomenon; I have lived here all my life,” he said.

“It’s only been in the last five years that the rest of society has started to recognize that it really exists.”