Morrisons manager welcomes meeting over sacking

The chief executive of Morrisons says he will meet this week with a store manager who was sacked after tackling a repeated shoplifter.

Sean Egan's story of how he was fired from the store in Aldridge, Walsall, has made headlines across the country, with members of the public expressing sympathy for him.

Ahead of the meeting, Morrisons boss Rami Baitieh said he understood the reaction but "the public reporting of the incident does not reflect the full facts of the situation".

Responding to those words, Egan said he did not regret his actions.

"I wish it never happened to me as in my dismissal but I don't regret defending myself and I stand by what I believe in," he said.

Egan, from Wolverhampton, previously said the shoplifter spat at him during a confrontation over stolen goods and he was dismissed on the grounds of not following a company deter-and-not-detain policy.

Previously, a Morrisons spokesperson insisted its policies on handling shoplifting incidents "must be strictly followed".

The case sparked outrage, with many shoppers contacting the BBC to say they would stop shopping at the supermarket chain.

Egan's MP Wendy Morton wrote to the chief executive, saying her constituents considered the 46-year-old a "hero".

In response, Baitieh said Morrisons had so far "refrained from detailed public comment because we do not believe that this would be helpful for Sean".

"To be clear, the public reporting of the incident does not reflect the full facts of the situation or fully consider the unintended consequences that can occur when colleagues physically confront criminals," he added.

He went on to say Morrisons' "every instinct" was to support colleagues who were abused or threatened but this had to be balanced against guidance and controls to keep people safe in their stores.

Egan said he wanted the face-to-face meeting on Thursday to understand what had happened to him and to "get my point across".

"I've reached out many times to try and get my views and the things that they haven't followed in process wise, and I've tried to get that across and it's been ignored on every occasion," the 46-year-old said.

When asked if he would go back to work for Morrisons, Egan said he would discuss that at the meeting.

An online fundraising page, set up in support of Egan, had generated more than £18,000 in donations as of Monday.

On Saturday, people in Aldridge said about 200 locals joined a protest outside the store and one of them, Katie Bowen, said shoppers were "fed up" at the supermarket's approach to shoplifters and what had happened to Egan.

"They can more or less walk in and walk out with goods. I think people have had enough of it," she added.

The support of the residents of Aldridge had been "absolutely immense", Egan said.

"It's nothing I could have ever dreamt of," he added.

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