'We tried to save shoplifter drowning in River Hull'

SHOP workers have told of their desperate attempts to save a shoplifter who plunged into the River Hull after threatening them with a knife.

David Chaplin, 35, was spotted stealing Adidas clothes worth about £400 from Sports Direct in Kingswood Retail Park.

When challenged by security guard Dean Prendergast outside the store, he threw the loot at him and ran.

As Mr Prendergast approached, the shoplifter threatened him with a sharp object believed to be a knife and said: "Come a bit closer and I will slit you."

The guard followed at a distance as Mr Chaplin ran towards the River Hull.

Moments later, he was in the water.

Shop employees fought back tears at an inquest as they told how they watched helplessly on the riverbank while the shoplifter drowned.

Sports Direct assistant manager Stacey Robinson followed Mr Chaplin down to the bank with colleague Ricky Brown and park security guard Dean Prendergast.

She said: "Not being able to do anything was awful.

"When you're running a shop, you don't expect to see somebody dying on you.

"Dean was trying to coax the male to come to the side and kick his legs. He came to the side a couple of times but the current was very strong."

It was around 11.30am on Tuesday, February 26, when shopper Beverley Todd saw Mr Chaplin take six red Adidas tops off their hangers and stuff them into a cardboard box.

He left the store and returned moments later with the empty box after hiding his loot.

When the shoplifter, of Kerdane in Orchard Park, began to steal Adidas jogging bottoms as well, Ms Todd approached staff to warn them.

They radioed Mr Prendergast, who waited outside the store until Mr Chaplin left and asked him to go back inside.

The thief flung the box of stolen goods at him and ran off past The Kingswood pub.

He turned on one occasion to punch the guard but missed, before threatening him with the blade.

Mr Prendergast said: "As we got to the riverbank, I looked left and right but couldn't see the man. I looked straight ahead and there he was, in the water.

"He kept going under the water but was still visible. His head went down one more time and he didn't resurface.

"When the emergency services arrived, his body had floated about 200m down the river."

More than a dozen police officers, paramedics and a fire engine rushed the scene.

Police threw a log tied to a line for Mr Chaplin to take hold of, and tried to hook his body with safety ropes. By the time he was pulled from the water by a firefighter in a drysuit, Mr Chaplin had been floating face down for 20 minutes.

Fire crew and paramedics were unable to revive him and he was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary. Although Mr Chaplin was briefly responsive following an injection of adrenaline, after 100 minutes of attempted resuscitation, he was declared dead at 1.36pm.

The shoplifter had a history of heroin addiction and spent much of his adult life in prison, the inquest heard.

When his last spell behind bars came to an end, Mr Chaplin began looking for work and a permanent home.

Although traces of cannabis and morphine were found in his system during a post mortem, these were not considered to have contributed to his death.

Assistant deputy coroner Rosemary Baxter found Mr Chaplin died from drowning and recorded a verdict of accidental death.