England is on its way to becoming Seattle

'Absolute farce': Retired policeman is slapped with a £130 fine for helping police catch Sainsbury's shoplifter... while the thief gets off entirely scot-free!

In a letter refusing his appeal against the fine, the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames told Mr Brennan that 'while I appreciate you were following an alleged shoplifter, you had no legal authority to enter this road'.

A retired police officer described the criminal justice system as 'broken' yesterday after he was fined for pursuing a shoplifter in his car – while the offender escaped prosecution entirely.

Norman Brennan, 64, confronted the thief in the street and, when he turned and fled, followed him for nearly two miles before helping police arrest him. He then retraced the man's steps and found nine expensive bottles of wine hidden behind a block of flats in a backpack.

But instead of being commended for his public-spirited bravery, Mr Brennan was astonished to receive a £130 fine from his local council for briefly driving the wrong way down a one-way street during the pursuit.

Mr Brennan told the MoS that at the time he was talking to a 999 operator on his hands-free and doing less than 5mph. He added that the 'farcical episode' makes a mockery of Policing Minister Chris Philp's appeal to the public to help tackle the shoplifting epidemic by making citizen's arrests when they see thieves stealing goods.

'What a complete waste of my time and an absolute farce,' he said. 'The only one being punished here is me. This was a rare situation in which everything was handed to the police and Sainsbury's on a plate – all the evidence and the culprit himself – but it still resulted in the guy walking free.

'Big supermarkets need to get serious about tackling shoplifting by declaring that they will take action. The police are in the middle of this, not really bothering because they know that on the rare occasions cases do get to court the offenders are let off with a conditional discharge or a small fine or a community order.

'The Government has promised a crackdown on this crime, which the police can't fulfil. It's all a big mess. The criminal justice system is broken, not fit for purpose.'

Mr Brennan, a former British Transport Police detective constable, has been honoured numerous times for bravery. Since retiring in 2009 he has been described as 'one of the best-known voices of British policing'. He set up the Victims Of Crime Trust, whose patrons include Denise Fergus, the mother of murdered toddler James Bulger.

…. Recalling the incident, Mr Brennan said he was in his car having a coffee one lunchtime last October when he heard a shout and saw a man in his 30s sprinting past with a backpack. 'I know the staff in Sainsbury's and saw one of them chasing him,' he said. 'I followed in my car, drove in front of him, jumped out and confronted him, but he turned and ran off behind a block of flats.'

Unable to pursue him on foot because of arthritic knees, Mr Brennan waited for the thief to reappear, then trailed him discreetly in his car to an industrial estate while speaking to a 999 operator who promised back-up.

Had he not turned into the one-way street, he said, he would have lost sight of the thief. 'I am an advanced police driver and was extremely careful when driving – or rather crawling – down this road.