On 8 August, Vince Malone, of Tenby Stores & Post Office in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, was assaulted by a shoplifter, and has spoken to Better Retailing on the impacts the attack has had on him, his family and the local community.

“I was alerted to suspicious activity in the morning, and noticed a man stealing a bottle of wine. He left before I could confront him, and returned later in the day. He started shouting at my wife Fiona, who was asking him to pay for the bottle he had stolen earlier.”

Malone then escorted the shoplifter from the building after he continued to verbally abuse and swear at staff.

“What really angered me was he was telling me it wasn’t my money [we were losing], and that it’s a victimless crime. I told him it is our money – it’s our business! That’s what really angered me – it’s unacceptable. He was giving me an attitude of ‘who’s this harming?’. I told him he was banned, so he hit me and walked off.

“The defining message isn’t the assault, it was more about the fact that we, collectively as a whole country, allow this to happen. We have got to the stage now where it is seen as a victimless crime and it doesn’t matter. The shoplifter was more angered that we’d stopped it than his being caught.”

Malone added he is “physically fine” apart from a bruised shoulder. However, the event has had an impact on his family.

“The most concerning thing for me was after the event, a local came up to me and my 11-year-old son, and asked me about being hit. It was horrible to see the shock on my son’s face. He understands how wrong it is, and it’s wrong that he’s having to go through that, too. It has an impact on our family.

“When I talk to other retailers up and down the country, they deal with this every single day. We’re a a sleepy town, so it’s been a bit of a shock for people locally, and it isn’t going away.”

Malone also claimed that the police arrived “fairly quickly”, but have not caught the suspect yet.

“I’ve had lots of support, which has been lovely,” he continued. “I’ve had people call me from the Fed, and had lots of locals asking if I’m alright. It’s lovely to be asked that. I’ve realised as men we don’t ask that question enough, and we don’t know how to answer it either. I think my lesson from this is that I’m going to one be much more mindful of talking to the men in my group and make sure that they’re ok.”

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