Security guard ‘choked thief to death’ at mall

A SHOPPER warned a security guard he was choking a thief to death as he held him in a lethal neck lock at a busy mall, a court heard yesterday.

Horrified shoppers looked on as Aaron Bishop, 23, turned purple and eventually died at the Quadrant Shopping Centre in Swansea, south Wales, in July last year.

Samantha Gregory told a jury yesterday she initially thought the thief was a coloured man because his face was so darkened by the neck lock.

Bishop stole a £35 bottle of Joop! perfume from the centre’s Debenhams store.

Powerfully-built Bishop was chased down by four security guards who held him in place awaiting the police.

Security guard Sam Bawden, 25, of Neath, south Wales, denies a charge of manslaughter.

Swansea Crown Court heard he told one shopper to “bugger off” when he was warned his neck lock was killing Bishop.

Gregory yesterday said the head of the man she saw being restrained had “turned purple”.

“The man being restrained was not doing much physically. His face was down on the floor facing the concrete. He was just trying to breathe. He was not making any other effort,” she said.

Patrick Harrington QC, prosecuting, asked: “From what you saw, was the way he was being held around the throat appropriate?”

“It was definitely not the way; it was 100% not the way to restrain somebody around the neck,”

She said she also accused Bawden of being “On a power trip. But he was blatantly not bothered”.

The case continues.