Brit claims mother, 78, was wrongfully accused of stealing and then “outrunning” Tesco security guards

A BRIT has claimed that his 78-year-old mother was wrongfully accused of stealing and then “outrunning” Tesco security guards.

Michael Sulu claims that his mother had been out doing her Christmas shopping in East Sussex yesterday when she was allegedly refused entrance to her local branch of the supermarket chain.

The university lecturer from London alleged that his OAP mum was then accused of stealing items from the shop a week before – and outrunning two security guards who chased her.

Protesting her innocence, Michael alleges that staff refused to show CCTV footage of the incident and further claims that the shop have mistaken her for another person of a darker skin tone.

He later took to social media yesterday in a plea for Tesco to retrain staff, writing: “Today my 78-year-old called mother me in severe distress.

“She went to her local Tesco to do a little pre-Christmas shopping and was prevented from entering the store.

“They claimed that the week prior, she had come in and stolen items then proceeded to outrun two security staff, whilst laden with stolen items.

“She protested her innocence and asked to see the CCTV but wasn’t allowed to, so now can’t go in to one of the few stores in her market town.

“Tesco, you need to fix this problem and I would suggest your security staff need to both train and retrain because when they realise it was not my mother, they need to apologise and learn how to tell black people apart.

“They also seem to need to physically train as they seem to also think it is fine to have been outrun by what they believe [sic] to be a 78-year-old, 5ft tall woman, carrying stolen goods.”

The post received over 1,200 likes and dozens of comments as many shared their disgust at the alleged actions of staff members.

One person wrote: “Please tell your mum I’m sorry for the way Tesco treated her. It’s just beggar’s belief they could believe a 78-year-old could outrun security staff.

“I hope they compensate your mum for the distress she must have felt.”

Another said: “So very sorry to read this. Good that you challenged them and requested CCTV footage.

“I hope this racism stops and that you get somewhere with this case fast. Hope your mum will be ok.”

A third commented: “So sorry. Hope they pay for this. Hefty compensation due, as well as training. For now, they have lost a customer.”

A fourth added: “Jesus Christ, sue the a**e out of them for defamation. Proper apology and compensation as an alternative.

“She must have been embarrassed to death, the poor lady. Don’t let this go.”

Michael added in the comments that “a group of security staff surrounded her on entrance and then they accused her of [theft].”

Despite his online plea, Michael claims that he is yet to hear from Tesco and has gone as far as contacting CEO Ken Murphy.

Speaking to Michael today he claimed: “The staff were being confrontational and accusatory.

“They said that my mother was abusive to them when she last visited the store during the theft.

“She has transitioned from being really upset to being very angry. The humiliation in a small town was the worst part initially.

“She’s still banned and there are a few other shops in town but she used Tesco to buy specific things for some less mobile elderly people she shops for, so it may be worse for them.

“There must be another black woman who committed the crime. My mother is reasonable though.

“If they’d showed her the CCTV she [would have thought], ‘That’s not me but I can see how you’d think it was.’

“She would have been reasonable but the response she got was that it was definitely her because they were wearing similar earrings – not because they had the same face.

“The assumption is that they are unable to distinguish between two separate black people because she didn’t do it and in a town that’s probably 95% white.

“My mother’s anger has escalated, so she is going to talk to discrimination lawyers but minimally, they should be apologising and compensating her for the humiliation in some way.

“She’d want something public. Both from Tesco and the individuals involved.”

Tesco has been approached for comment.