Newham Police arrest man after Costcutter assault on suspected shoplifter

A man was filmed repeatedly slapping an alleged thief, telling him: 'I will slap the f*** out your face'

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Police in the London borough of Newham have made an arrest fter a video on social media was reported to show a man in a Costcutter store repeatedly slapping a suspected shoplifter, telling the individual that would "slap the f*** out your face".

A police statement said that they had become aware of a video showing possible assault on 13 June and that an arrest was made two days later after enquiries. A man in his early 20s was taken to a police station in east London, although no allegation of assault had been made to police.

The video shows a man in an Adidas jacket in a Costcutter apparently asking another man to open his bag. After the customer unzips the bag, he is slapped a number of times in the face by the other man, who begins to hurl a string of insults at the man in between the blows to alleged shoplifter's face, it is claimed.

The man tries to take his bag back but the man says, "You're not going to have your bag or nothing. This is not a normal shop. I will f*** you up personally. You f***ing piece of s***.

"I pay tax. If you ever steal again, I'm going to f*** you up." He then tells the man to leave the Costcutter.

In a statement from Costcutter, the shop said it was shocked by the events in the video and that the behaviour was totally unacceptable. According to Costcutter, the man in the video does not work for the company.

"While it is not possible for the shopkeeper to take any direct action with regards the person shown in the video, we immediately contacted the police to ask them to investigate this incident further," Costcutter said after the video went viral online.

Costcutter released another statement after the arrest, saying that they were pleased someone had been taken into custody regarding the assault video.

Newham police said enquiries were continuing and are still appealing for anyone who was in the store at the time of the assault to contact Newham CID by dialing 101.