Furious Iceland chief says cops rushed to store after man caught tampering with milk made bogus racism claim... but fail to attend when shoplifters attack staff

By REBECCA CAMBER, CRIME AND SECURITY EDITOR Published: 00:05, 7 June 2026 | Updated: 00:23, 7 June 2026 The furore over two-tier policing intensified last night after a supermarket boss accused officers of treating a false claim of racism more seriously than rampant violence by shoplifters. Iceland founder Sir Malcolm Walker says 'two-tier policing isn't just happening on the streets' as he revealed cops rushed to one of his stores three minutes after a phoney accusation of racism was made against a shop supervisor. The entrepreneur made a formal complaint to Scotland Yard after the Asian supervisor was handcuffed and dragged to a police car by officers who rushed to the scene when a black customer made a complaint of racism after being caught tampering with milk bottles. In contrast, Sir Malcolm said, police often did not attend even when staff had been seriously hurt or threatened with violence by shoplifters. He said he was moved to speak out following the furore over the murder of Henry Nowak, who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying after his killer falsely accused him of racist abuse. Sir Malcolm said: 'There is two-tier policing. It isn't just happening on the streets. We had an incident in a store in Enfield.  'This guy is taking milk bottles out of the fridge, opening them and putting them back, so a staff member remonstrated with him. 'The next thing the guy is on his phone claiming he has been racially abused. Furious Iceland founder Sir Malcolm Walker has claimed that 'two-tier policing isn't just happening on the streets' The supermarket boss said police officers rushed to one of his Iceland stores three minutes after a phoney accusation of racism was made against a shop supervisor Pictured: CCTV footage of the incident, where police were called to a bogus racism claim after a shoplifting allegation in Enfield Town, London The Iceland worker was handcuffed and dragged to a police car by officers when a black customer made a complaint of racism after being caught tampering with milk bottles 'Three minutes later a police car arrives and they immediately handcuff our member of staff. 'This member of staff was taken away for two or three hours before the matter was dropped. 'What a terrible over-the-top reaction – it was madness. Why did they feel the need to handcuff him and put him in a police car on an unfounded allegation?' He added: 'Every week we have reports of violence – members of staff being punched, threatened with a hypodermic needle or knife. It is out of control. 'They do not bother most of the time ringing the police because it doesn't seem to make a difference. 'Violence against shop staff is rampant. Never in a million years would police be there in three minutes for that.' A Met Police spokesman said: 'We police London without fear or favour and strive to serve all communities equally. All operational decisions are grounded in legal principles.' He added that after the incident in Enfield a man in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.