£1.79 chocolate raider beats Tesco guard so badly ‘he cannot return to work’

A shop security guard told how he was savagely attacked after confronting a shoplifter for stealing chocolate bars worth £1.79.

Victor Ajiboye, 46, suffered permanent nerve damage and a broken ankle in the brutal assault while working at a Tesco store in Paddington.

The father-of-three was punched to the ground and repeatedly kicked in the head as he lay helpless on the floor. Mr Ajiboye said he confronted the thief who fled the shop with stolen confectionery.

Minutes later the man returned to the store, catching security staff off-guard and launching the violent attack.

“It happened out of the blue. He hit me on the back and kept going when I was on the ground,” Mr Ajiboye told the Standard.

“I’m in pain every day and need to take pills. I can’t walk for more than 10 minutes and I have to wear a support.”

“My right leg and my ankle can never go back again, it will always be painful. Just for those chocolate bars.”

Mr Ajiboye, who lives in Brixton, said he has been unable to return to his job since the attack.

“Not working means I have had to cut back on things for my family,” he said. “It has made raising my three children very hard. It affected me in every way. Sometimes I have flashbacks of being punched and kicked.”

Born in the UK but raised in Nigeria, Mr Ajiboye returned to London in 1997. He worked in the Tesco supermarket in South Wharf Road for three years before the attack.

Mr Ajiboye said none of the Tesco staff had seen the suspect before or heard from him since. Police have now released CCTV images of the suspect after the assault in the early hours of August 22 last year.

“Hearing that the police are still looking for this man gives me hope that they will find him,” said Mr Ajiboye. “I don’t know if I could forgive him.”

A Met spokesperson said: “The victim was working when he saw the suspect stealing chocolate.” Police described the attacker as black, slim, bald and around 6ft 2in.

He wore a white and black baseball cap with a motif on front, a dark zip-up hoody with white strings, a grey T-shirt, black jeans and grey trainers.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.