Want the latest news from Swansea sent straight to your inbox? Don't miss anything from your city! Sign up for regular updates Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A SECURITY guard killed a shoplifter in front of horrified customers at one of Wales’ busiest shopping centres by using “wholly inappropriate” restraint techniques, a court heard today.

Sam ‘Josh’ Bawden, 25, a part-time doorman and security officer at Swansea’s Quadrant Shopping Centre denies the manslaughter of ex-Welsh Guardsman Aaron Bishop, 22.

Patrick Harrington QC, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court the tragic incident happened at lunchtime on July 30 last year when Mr Bishop was spotted on CCTV stealing a £35 bottle of Joop aftershave from the centre’s flagship Debenham’s store.

The prosecutor said: “The price was very high indeed.”

The jury heard that Bawden, of Leonard Street, Neath, and three other security staff chased Mr Bishop, of Swansea, and caught him on a gangway leading to the Debenham’s store car park.

Shoppers who witnessed what happened said Mr Bishop was held around the throat and his face turned purple.

They described him begging and pleading to be released with his face so discoloured, one witness mistook him for being black.

By the time police arrived at the centre at the end of the 10-minute struggle, Mr Bishop was dead.

Opening the case yesterday, Mr Harrington said Mr Bishop had “gone off the rails” when, just before he was due to be posted to Iraq in 2004 with the Welsh Guards, he broke his arm and could not go.

He said he started getting into trouble both in and out of the army and, after being discharged in 2005, served a jail term for an offence.

Of the incident, he said Mr Bishop could have had no complaint at being detained and arrested because he had clearly committed an act of theft.

He told the jury: “And be under no illusions, Aaron Bishop put up a struggle when security staff caught him.

“He was a young man and evidently quite powerful. However, he was kept on the floor by four security guards.

“One of these, Sam Bawden, used wholly inappropriate, excessive and, we submit, unlawful means to restrain Mr Bishop, despite being given clear and unambiguous warnings of the danger of what he was doing he continued.

“Members of the public at the centre told him to stop as it was obvious Aaron Bishop was in distress, but he maintained his grip around the man’s throat and when police get there Mr Bishop was dead.”

He added: “It was tragic for all concerned, including the defendant who is a 25-year-old man of previous good character, and for Aaron Bishop for all those who grieve for him.”

The court heard Paul Harris, a loss prevention officer at the Quadrant Centre, spotted Mr Bishop on CCTV cameras taking the perfume and attempting to leave without paying for it.

He alerted the four centre security staff – Bawden, Christopher Strutt, Tony Williams and Lee Roberts.

Mr Harrington said Mr Bishop initially collided with Mr Strutt, then Bawden began restraining Mr Bishop around the head and neck area while two other security staff arrived and joined in the restraint.

The prosecutor said: “The defendant told the police Mr Bishop caught him in the face with his hand initially.

“Maybe it was that which angered the defendant and was the catalyst for his subsequent unlawful behaviour.”

The court was told witness Alison Whitehouse described Mr Bishop as gasping and saying: “Please help me”.

Mr Harrington said: “Mrs Whitehouse said, ‘please let his head or neck go. He can’t breathe’. The truth is these were the last moments of his life.”

Mr Harrington said that as Mr Bishop pleaded to be let go, Bawden’s response was: “Stop chopsing. If you couldn’t breathe you couldn’t talk.”

Mr Harrington claimed another visitor to the Quadrant Centre, Samantha Gregory, was so incensed by what she saw she “wanted to kick the defendant in the head because he looked so pleased with himself”.

She claimed, said Mr Harrington, that when she asked Bawden to release his grip he “smirked” and appeared to tighten his grip.

Mr Harrington said another shopper, Ieuan Jones, will tell the trial he believed he saw steam coming from the head of Aaron Bishop which was covered in sweat.

The jury was told Mr Jones asked Bawden to release his grip on the struggling Mr Bishop but was told: “Mind your own business”.

Mr Harrington said Mr Jones heard Mr Bishop say: “Let me go, phone the police.”

Another shopper, Mair Lang, of Llanelli, said she heard someone shout “Get him” then aw four men on top of another man who was lying face down on his stomach.

The court heard Bawden was employed by Swansea-based PSM (Professional Security Management) which iscontracted to supply security staff to the Quadrant Centre.

The case continues.