STORE WARS

Supermarket guards tell of soaring levels of daily abuse, threats and violence. Shock figures come after shoplifter is jailed for killing man who tried to stop her

- BY SALLY HIND

SUPERMARKET security staff have reported a terrifying surge of violence in Scots stores just days after a shoplifter was jailed for killing a guard.

A trade union said store guards are being abused and assaulted every day, as shock figures expose an escalating risk of assaults and threats amid a backdrop of soaring retail crime across the country.

The warning, from GMB Scotland, came after Natasha Smith was jailed for more than five years last week for killing Alun Harris-Richards - who fell to the ground and hit his head while trying to stop the thief from leaving the Arbroath Asda store with stolen alcohol.

A poll of security staff in store giant Asda exposed an upsurge in trouble on the shopfloor amid fears the outsourcing of security there will put even more workers at risk.

More than a third of staff, 36 per cent, reported being assaulted, while 83 per cent said they have suffered or witnessed verbal abuse, including racist insults and threats of violence.

More than half of security staff, 56 per cent, believe theft, violence and abuse has got dramatically worse in the last 12 months - with 78 per cent believing stores are more dangerous now than when they started in the job.

One guard said: "Every day someone is shouting and swearing at us or worse. You just have to let it roll over you but it is stressful and gets to you. You are on edge all the time.

"You never know when something is going to kick off or how badly."