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A man claims he had to drop his trousers to prove he was not stealing clothes after staff spotted a "suspicious bulge in his trousers".

Steve Whitehurst, 47, is a window fitter and detailed the trip to Scotts in Hanley's Intu Potteries shopping centre which quickly became a nightmare.

The 47-year-old said staff prevented him from leaving the branch for around 30 minutes despite several attempts to prove his innocence, reports StokeonTrentLive .

One method of proving his innocence was to get his 10in manhood out and show a male member of staff in a cubicle.

The drama unfolded during an outing to the city centre with his partner Mandy Shenton, aged 46, and 18-month-old grandson last Sunday (September 22).

Steve selected several T-shirts and a new bag before paying £390 at the till.

But as he went to leave, the manager confronted him and accused him of smuggling items in his pants.

Steve, from Sneyd Green, said: "I walked up to the door to leave but they stood in front of me. I thought it was a joke at first, I was completely gobsmacked.

"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.

"But when I came out they still tried to block me. I was kept prisoner there. A huge crowd of more than 100 people had built up outside. It was humiliating.

"A lot of people think it's funny, but I don't think it's a laughing matter. I can't believe I got my manhood out and they still didn't believe me."

Steve insisted he remained calm until the manager produced some security tags and continued to refuse to allow him to leave despite him proving there was nothing hidden inside his trousers.

At that point, he demanded a refund and has now vowed to never to return to the shop again.

He added: "I only lost my temper in the last five minutes. I admit I called the manager a 'b***h' because I was so frustrated. At no point before that was I aggressive.

"The reason we had gone in the first place was because I found out that I'd had a non-acute heart attack two weeks earlier.

"I'd been really down because I couldn't go to the gym or work so my partner decided she'd treat me to some new clothes to cheer me up.

"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.

"I was begging security to call the police, I'd have done it myself but my phone was dead. I kept pleading with them to check the CCTV which would have shown I'd done nothing wrong.

"It was only after I got the refund that I was allowed to leave."

(Image: StokeonTrentLive)

Steve went straight home following the confrontation but was so upset with the false accusations he decided to return to make a complaint the following morning.

He said: "I only got to sleep at 6am as I was so stressed. As soon as I woke up I went down to speak with security. Would someone really go to the point of showing their penis if they weren't telling the truth?

"If the manager had admitted her mistake I'd have left it there but now I think she should be severely reprimanded. I want a formal apology. I must be the only person to have spent £396 but still get accused of theft.

"I felt like I was a little man, be it one with a large penis, against this big corporate company. It's so frustrating."

Mandy added: “What they did to Steve was disgusting.”

Scotts is owned by JD Sports.

A JD Sports spokesman 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.”

An intu Potteries spokesman said: “We have apologised to Mr Whitehurst who was happy with our apology.