Darren Fletcher/The SunA man has revealed he pulled down his pants to prove his innocence after he was accused of shoplifting, showing his 10-inch penis in the process.
Steve Whitehurst, 47, was shopping in the Scotts store in Hanley’s intu Potteries shopping centre in Stoke-on-Trent with his partner, Mandy Shenton, 46, and 18-month-old grandson last Sunday (September 22) when the drama unfolded.
After paying £390 at the till for a few T-shirts and a new bag, the 47-year-old claims he was prevented from leaving the branch by the store manager, who accused him of smuggling more items in his pants.
Steve, a window fitter from Sneyd Green, said he was ‘completely gobsmacked’ that he was being accused of shoplifting and believed staff members must have been joking at first.
Google MapsHowever, it was no jape and the 47-year-old claims he was kept inside the store for around 30 minutes – despite ‘proving his innocence’ by showing a male member of staff his 10-inch penis.
He told The Sun:
The manager started arguing with me. She wouldn’t let it go. I just kept telling her that it was my penis.
Eventually I dropped my trousers in front of everyone and just stood there in my boxer shorts and said, ‘See, I’ve got nothing to hide’. But that didn’t satisfy her. She kept saying, ‘What’s that bulge?’
The window fitter claims he then went into a cubicle with a male security guard and ‘dropped [his] boxers’ to prove that he wasn’t hiding anything down there.
Steve told StokeonTrentLive:
They kept pointing at my crotch and I replied: ‘Excuse me, that’s my penis’. I said to them ‘what do I have to do to prove I’m innocent?’.
They wouldn’t let it go so I felt I had no choice but to pull my trousers down. I told them ‘Look, I’ve got nothing to hide’ but they still kept accusing me.
I volunteered to go to the changing room with a male member of staff to prove it was all me as I couldn’t think of what else I could do.
I’ve put on a bit of weight lately so my jeans were very tight and there was a bulge but I can’t help the way I’m made. I’m very well endowed.
Darren Fletcher/The SunSteve, who called the outing the ‘craziest experience of my life’, has since complained to the company, which is owned by JD Sports. His partner Mandy said what they did to Steve was ‘humiliating’ and ‘disgusting’.
However, sources stressed employees never asked Steve to expose himself and accused him of becoming aggressive, with one witness saying they had ‘good grounds’ to suspect him of shoplifting.
The witness explained:
He was picking up and dropping a lot of items. They found a missing electronic tag in a jacket he tried on and then spotted a big bulge in his pants. When they cornered him he became very abusive.
He then dropped his trousers, but the bulge was much smaller than staff remembered it. No one ever asked him to go to a cubicle to reveal himself — he did that of his own volition.
Darren Fletcher/The SunThe 47-year-old remembers things differently though, telling StokeonTrentLive he ‘only lost [his] temper in the last five minutes’ – although he does admit calling the manager a b*tch because he was ‘so frustrated’.
He added:
I was having heart palpitations, I thought I was going to faint. It was really stressful. It’s not nice to be accused of being a thief, I’ve never stolen anything in my life.
A JD Sports spokesperson said:
The customer in question was exhibiting suspicious behaviour in store and when the store manager confronted the customer, he became abusive. At no point did any colleague ask the customer to remove any clothing.
Steve has vowed never to return to the store again.
UNILAD has reached out to Scotts for comment.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).