Dismissed for suspected theft.

[Bbbananas]

I have a friend who is really going through the mill at the moment. She worked for a department store for 6 years but was dismissed the other week for gross misconduct / going against staff policy for suspected theft. She is wholly innocent of anything other than ditziness - she picked up a bag of unpaid goods from the store & handed them to her husband. She had mistaken the bag for one containing goods she had already paid for. There's far more to it than this, but I'm trying to keep this brief.
Anyway - she was dismissed & she thought this was the end of the matter. Now, 3 weeks down the line, the Police turned up on her doorstep yesterday wanting to question her, as the store have decided to pursue the matter.
They have no proof of theft - no 'confession'. Is there a chance the Police themselves will decide not to prosecute due to lack of evidence or there simply isn't a strong enough case to answer to?
She needs legal advice, without a doubt, but as she is going through the menopause, has a terminally ill father... I said I would loosely ask for any advice on here as to where she should go from here.
thanks.

[bednobs]

hi salla - surely they do have proof? Ie the bag of goods that were taken out of the store without being paid for?

[redcrx]

if there was no proof and no confession, then how do they know that anything was taken?
even if she said she mistakenly took the bag, its still proof that she did.
They need to prove to it was a deliberate act of theft, presumably by charging her if they feel it would be successful

[Bbbananas]

That;s just it bednobs - she handed the bag to her husband within the store. He was stopped by the security guard as he was going into the Gents. They took the bag off him - never questioned him or anything. So - how did they know he was going to walk out of the store with it? For all they knew, he could have been going to pay for it at another till?

[redcrx]

was her husband charged with anything? he was the one carrying the bag after all.

[Bbbananas]

Absolutely nothing red - nothing said to him, he was not questioned - they just took the bag off him & left him standing there completely dumbfounded as what was going on.

[mollykins]

Plus, wasn't there a bag of paid for goods, left in the store, making it obvious there was a mix up? plus if there was, and the paid for goods were more valuable, this sounds rediculous.

[redcrx]

well "attempted shoplifting" is a crime, the goods didnt have to be removed from store.
what was the unpaid bag of goods there for? maybe if the person who put it there can explain that then your friend has a chance.

Is she fighting against the dismissal?

[Bbbananas]

It's a strange (but not in writing) staff policy that they can put goods 'aside' so by the time it shows up on their statements, they've had 5 weeks' grace or something like that. One bag in the store room contained paid for goods, the other bag (which she gave to her husband by mistake) contained unpaid for goods that she was going to pay for the following month. Yes - the bag of paid for goods was still in the stockroom, and the security guard saw this. However the store seems to have taken a hard line & are pursuing it through the Police.
Her family urged her initially to go for wrongful dismissal, but with her father & everything, she just wanted to put the whole experience behind her - she can't be doing with any more stress at present. Now this....