WRONGLY ACCUSED OF THEFT - AND NO ‘SORRY’

A woman wrongly identified as a shoplifter claims cops asked if she felt suicidal when she protested her innocence.

Susan Park, 57, was in a chemist shop in Wishaw town centre when she was accused of stealing from another store.

The shocked mum-of-two had gone for an early morning swim and then to buy groceries when she was apprehended by uniformed officers.

She says the ordeal in March this year has left her confidence shattered and has stopped going out as a result. The Wishaw woman, who suffers from Ehlers-danlos Syndromes (EDS) has had hip surgery and bone grafts.

She was stunned when it was alleged she had stolen baby clothes and tights from the town’s M&CO store. “I have trouble with my hips and spine and had been going swimming every morning at 7.30am on the advice of my surgeon,” Susan admitted.

“Afterwards I went for some shopping, I came out of Lidl and went into the chemist next to it for some mints.

“I could hear a siren and just thought ‘typical Wishaw’ but the next thing I knew there’s this big hand on my shoulder.

“I turned round and I near dropped because I thought something had happened to one of my boys, but they said I’d been shoplifting.

“I told them I had a lot going on in my life and said this was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back.’

“They asked me if I was suicidal, but I said ‘no that’s your words not mine’.

“At first I refused to go into the back of the van because I thought they were taking me to Wishaw hospital.”

Susan phoned her son but he didn’t answer. Later she discovered her discussion with the police had been recorded on his voicemail.

On returning home Susan was able to speak on the phone to the manageress of M&CO, the store the goods were stolen from.

“I asked her for a description and she told me ‘20s to 30s, tall, slim long dark hair in a ponytail, wearing a khaki parka with a beige fur trim’”, she revealed.

“I’m almost in my 60s, had a green wax jacket with no fur on the hood, I’m fat, walk with a distinctive limp, wear glasses and I don’t have a pony tail.”

A complaint was made to Police Scotland in relation to her ordeal and the audio phone recording handed over as proof of what took place.

No charges were brought against Susan but she did receive a letter from Police Scotland in response.

It stated that she had been wrongly identified by a CCTV operator.

Susan is disappointed she hasn’t received an apology for the way she was treated.

“I’ve not been swimming since. I try not to think about it because I end up in tears. They tried to say I was unstable because I kept asking them to tell me the description they had been given. I was in tears.

“I’ve never been in trouble before and before this had nothing but respect for the police.”

Inspector Stuart Robertson at Motherwell Police Scotland said: “On 21 March 2019 police attended a report of theft from a shop in Main Street, Wishaw. Police lawfully detained a 57-year-old woman until full enquiries were carried out resulting in no crime being established. The full circumstances were explained to the woman.”