Here is the moment a suspected Moss Side thief stole a week’s worth of specialist shopping from a quadriplegic man’s doorstep.
Stuart Turner, who cannot move his arms or legs, posted the video on Facebook yesterday after his groceries were taken from his wheelchair lift right in front of his house on Edith Avenue, Moss Side at 5.56am.
The 36-year-old orders all his food online and with the likes of the non-homogenised high protein milk, sold by Able & Cole, in the stolen crate.
“Well, it’s hardly crime of the century but I do think it makes me feel a little less secure,” Stuart told MM.
“It does now mean that I can’t have shopping delivered using that method, it would be crazy to leave shopping on the doorstep again after this.
“But my main motivation for posting on Facebook was the hope that he might see it, and know that there was a real human connected to that box he took.”
Stuart discovered that the groceries had been missing when his carer arrived at 6.30am and the pair spotted the culprit on CCTV.
“It wasn’t until my carer arrived and asked where the shopping was that we noticed it was gone.
“We then looked at the CCTV footage and notice what this kind gentleman had done.”
“They sell the high-protein milk I need because I find it difficult to swallow and thereby get enough protein into my body.”
The footage has since had 221 shares on Facebook as the Moss Side community has rallied around in a bid to catch the man responsible.
“The overwhelming response is been one of revulsion and shock,” said Stuart, who works in robotics research, developing technology for quadriplegics like himself and has worked with universities and museums around the world.
“I think that the number of times it’s been shared demonstrates that people are shocked and appalled by his behaviour,” he said.
“I think people get into bad patterns of behaviour like that, and tend to forget that the world is made up of all of our actions.
“I think really Bill and Ted said it best, I just think she needs to realise that we need to be excellent to each other!”
Stuart, who has done TED talks in the past and recently launched Robots and Cake, a group to bring together robotocists and disabled people, does not want a harsh punishment for the offender – just to let him know he has affected the life of someone else.
“No I don’t particularly want him to go to prison. Yes, I want him to maybe have some empathy with what he’s done and maybe change his ways in future,” he said.
