“I was falsely accused of stealing, and it could happen to you”
Telford NHS worker, Mandy Anderson, had the shock of her life last week when a cctv image of her was released by West Mercia Police and shared on social media.
The photo was supplied to the police by Asda Donnington who then used it to ask the public for help in identifying her to help with their investigation into a reported theft from store.
Mandy told Telford Live exactly what happened. Over a month ago, Mandy went into her local Asda store at Donnington to buy cigarettes.
As with all stores, these are held in cupboards behind the counter. “The assistant handed me the packet and paid by card. The payment was declined.”
Without even leaving the counter, the card was presented again and this time, payment was successfully taken.
Mandy thought no more about it until Friday last week when a CCTV image of her, complete with her arm in a sling from an operation that took place just before the incident.
“I’ve had so many messages asking me what I’ve been doing” she said. Mandy frantically contacted the Police and Asda to get to the bottom of the situation.
Her bank records show that the payment was successfully taken and the Police were happy that matter is now closed.
“This is a warning to everyone that this could happen to you” Mandy told Telford Live.
“Although I understand why these images are shared, I want to know why Asda sent this photo to the police as they would have seen that the payment went through a few minutes later.”
While the wording on the social media post was asking for help with enquiries and does not directly accuse those in the photos of theft, it’s clear from the comments that he public do not always realise that.
West Mercia Police said “…an image was published of a woman that officers were keen to identify as it was believed she could assist with enquiries into a theft.
“We have since made enquiries with the store and established no offence has taken place and have removed the image from our social media.
“We would like to offer our sincere apologies for any distress this has caused.”
We have approached Asda for a comment.
Sorry to hear of your distress Mandy and how it must have felt to be accused of something you did not do/ were not aware of. Then to have it publicly displayed for people that want to believe to believe..I also wish you the best and hope it resolves, and doesn’t have a lasting impact on you in anyway.
My opinion is unfortunately the uk seems to have too many people in positions of “power” that are not interested in innocent until proven guilty. Unfortunately, we do live in a country with some corrupt police, media (news, websites, social) that make statements to fit their own narratives (which is not always accurate)… what we all need to remember when reading anything in the media or on social platforms (no matter who is making the statement) is there is 3 sides to a story…. One of them is truth…
I don’t know what has happened to Asda, but several times recently, I have been ‘overcharged’ (would that be classed as theft) they have put it right once I asked them to double check. Town Centre branch has gone downhill and I won’t be doing my main shop there again. I also saw somebody running off with a bottle of whisky, told security but they showed a distinct lack of interest. So why this problem over a pack of cigarettes? Most odd!