Shoplifter admits killing Scots supermarket security guard during booze theft

A woman killed a security guard while stealing from the shop where he worked.

Natasha Smith was trying to swipe booze from the supermarket where Alun Harris-Richards was working.

She had an altercation with the 61-year-old as she tried to flee the store with the stolen goods.

A court heard she screamed at him, telling him to get his hands off her and that he wasn't allowed to touch her.

And she caused him such physical and emotional distress during the June 2024 incident, at the asda store in Arbroath, Angus, that he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Smith admitted her guilt over the incident when she appeared in the dock today, Thursday, January 29, 2026.

The 38-year-old pleaded guilty to a charge of culpable homicide.

The court heard that pathologists examining him after his death discovered that he had a coronary artery condition.

Sufferers are "at risk of sudden death at any time", especially when they are stressed or ill.

Smith will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh in March.

She also pleaded guilty to an assault on another Asda employee during the same incident.

During the fatal confrontation, Harris-Richards had on a body-worn camera.

She shouted, swore and repeatedly tried to pull a bag containing the alcohol from his grasp.

Footage was shown to the court which showed Smith shouting, swearing and screaming: "You're not allowed to touch me" and "get your hands off me".

She also yelled "who do you think you are, Hulk?" while continuing to pull at the bag of bottles of booze.

She had planned to sell the pilfered bevvy to a pub.

After Harris-Richards fell to the floor, she continued to struggle with two female employees, grabbing one of them, putting her hands around her neck and chillingly warning: "I will end you".