'I tried to be a hero but I don't want others to copy me'

A man who says he was attacked while trying to stop a shoplifter has warned others to avoid playing the hero in the face of danger.

Danny Cooke, 44, originally from Barnsley, said he was at a supermarket in Wigan on 15 March when he saw a man filling up a basket with jars of coffee and leaving the shop without paying.

Cooke said he followed the man and "snatched the basket off him" before being sworn at and attacked with loose bricks from the wall outside the shop.

The father-of-two told BBC Radio Manchester. "I have kids and a fiancee and I could have been seriously injured. Please don't be a 'have a go hero'."

Cooke, who works for Royal Mail, said he suspected the man might be a shoplifter when he saw him looking "a bit shifty" and filling a basket full of coffee jars.

"It's normal for somebody to put a jar of coffee in, but not over 10," Cooke said.

He said he watched the man from the end of the aisle - but after spotting him leaving the store without paying decided to take action.

"I thought 'I'm not having that'," Cooke recalled.

"Prices are going up everywhere - and it's no wonder if somebody's just casually walking in and and walking out with hundreds of pounds worth of coffee.

"So I walked out and asked him if he was thinking about paying for what he'd taken."

He said the man swore at him and told him it was none of his business.

"I told him again to put the basket down," Cooke said.

"When he didn't I snatched the basket off him - and I turned to walk back in to the shop.

"But as I'm walking in he started throwing house bricks at me from a wall."

Cooke said he took action because it was the "right thing to do" - but after claiming to have been hit by a brick to the back of the leg, he is now warning others of the dangers of "playing the have a go hero".

"I did receive injuries," he said. "I've got a massive gash at the back of my knee. If he'd have been lower or higher, he could have broken my leg.

"I'd say to others 'don't confront them' - because it's not a wise thing.

"I've come away injured, thankfully not that injured - but I know I shouldn't have done it.

"Instead I'd tell other people who see a shoplifter to write or email the store chain and tell them about the security risk - because that potentially could have been very dangerous."

Cooke was driven home by police, after concerns that he might run into the alleged shoplifter on his way home.

Greater Manchester Police has said no arrests have been made in connection with the alleged attack and enquiries are ongoing.

In January, the force said it was bringing to justice 500 shoplifters every month in Greater Manchester and it would continue to work closely with retail owners and shopkeepers to protect their livelihoods and catch offenders.

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