Two people are arrested after ‘utterly despicable’ incident where pair of men licked their hands and smeared them on fresh supermarket produce
- Lancashire Police circulated CCTV images of two suspects on Wednesday
- Pair had gone into their local Sainsbury’s in Morecambe and licked their hands
- Police said it was ‘despicable’ that anyone would behave that way at this time
Police have arrested two people after they were seen licking their hands in a supermarket before wiping them over meat, fresh produce and fridge handles.
CCTV footage released by Lancashire Police showed two people entering the Sainsbury’s store in Morecambe on Saturday at around 1.45pm.
They then shocked customers and staff after they made a show of licking their hands, forcing staff to throw away hundreds of pounds worth of produce.
The store was thoroughly disinfected and the food had to be destroyed, said police.
The incident took place at a Sainsbury’s store in Morecambe (pictured above) on Saturday at around 1.45pm
CCTV footage released by Lancashire Police showed two people entering the store (above)
Inspector James Martin, of Lancashire Police, said: ‘That anyone could think this sort of behaviour is appropriate or amusing even in normal times is beyond me, but at this time of crisis when many people have been faced with empty shelves in some shops is flabbergasting.
‘It is utterly despicable.’
After releasing CCTV images of the pair, officers made the arrests on Wednesday afternoon.
Enquiries into the incident are ongoing.
So far in the UK there have been 7,095 deaths and over 60,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
In the North West alone there have been 770 deaths and over 6,000 confirmed cases.
There have now been 75 fatalities across NHS Trusts that cover the Morcambe area, these include Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Westmorland General Hospital and Furness General Hospital.
People up and down the country have been forced into lockdown, only being able to go out for essential items.
People have also been urged to wash their hands more often due to stop the spread of the virus.