A 16-year-old boy who was mugged and ran into a shopping centre for help was instead allegedly asked by security: “Did you not put up a fight?” 

Shane Wilson, from Basingstoke, and his friend were left shaken up after the incident outside Trilby’s on Monday night and dashed into Festival Place.

But instead of trying to help the distressed teen, the security guard allegedly questioned why he didn’t “put up a fight”. 

The student said he had saved up for nearly five months to buy a pair of Apple AirPod Pro headphones, which cost £99, and had owned them for just six weeks.

He told the Gazette: “It was pitch black when these three guys approached us and they started joking about taking our bikes as we locked them up outside the shopping centre.”

Two of the three then came either side of Shane and grabbed his shoulders, patting him down until they found the headphones as a the third boy held Shane’s friend back.

“We were both quite shocked and we just did whatever they said because we were scared they were going to pull a knife out or something. I tried to get them back but they said “don’t try it or I’ll punch you in the ******* face.”

The two boys ran back into the shopping centre and spoke with the security guards on shift, but all they asked was: ‘Didn’t you put up a fight or something?’

He continued: “We weren’t more than 10 meters away from the front doors and there was no security around at all we were completely alone.

“The security didn’t do anything about the boys who mugged me and at any point those three people could have come back and done whatever they wanted all over again.”

Shane’s mother, who wished to remain anonymous, reflected on the event: “It was so sad, he had saved up all of his pocket money from his birthday and Christmas to get these headphones and then this happens. 

“We didn’t manage to get insurance for them so it’s a real loss for him, even if he doesn’t show it.”


Hampshire Constabulary said three arrests had been made.