WIDOWER Stan Nova survived being interrogated and beaten by Hitler's secret police in the Second World War.

But now he says those grim memories have been stirred again - after he was accused of shoplifting at his local Co-op.

Mr Nova, 77, of Woodland Drive, Hove, was threatened with court action when he walked out of the store with a copy of the Argus Property News, mistakenly thinking it was free.

After being quizzed for 15 minutes Mr Nova, a loyal customer for ten years, was escorted outside and banned from the store in Nevill Road, Hove, for life.

Mr Nova said he had been unable to sleep since because it brought back terrible memories of being beaten by the German Gestapo.

He normally gets a free copy of the Property News from an estate agent and did not realise he was supposed to buy the Argus if it was part of the paper.

As Mr Nova left the store with the supplement, a security guard in a leather jacket ordered him back into the shop. He marched him to an office, where duty manager Philip Brown stood at the door.

Mr Nova said: "Suddenly I realised that office looked exactly like the office in Marseilles where I was interrogated by the Gestapo. A man in a leather jacket sat asking the questions while an SS officer stood behind me, guarding the door."

On that day in France he was beaten with a chain after refusing to answer questions about his identity and was left for dead on the floor of the office.

Mr Nova added: "The only difference was that in Marseilles there was blood on the walls. When the store manager said, 'What shall we do with him?', it was exactly the same words the Gestapo said after they had beaten me."

After the security guard finished questioning him, Mr Nova was ordered to pay for that day's copy of the Argus and then escorted outside.

He added: "The manager told me I was banished from shopping there and if I ever put a foot inside again I would be arrested and charged.

"When I got home I couldn't get it out of my mind. Everything was coming back to me. I did not sleep all night. It took only 15 minutes to bring that hell back and I am still with it now."

Originally from Czechoslovakia, Mr Nova was arrested by the Gestapo in 1942 after being picked up without papers. A French worker helped him to escape and he spent the next few months on the run.

During that time he joined the French resistance, was captured again and spent two weeks in a concentration camp in southern France.

After a second miraculous escape he fled to Spain and eventually Britain, where he joined the RAF.

He married his English sweetheart Iris and has lived in England ever since.

After the Argus took up Mr Nova's case, Co-Op agreed to lift the "excessive" life ban but said Mr Nova was not badly treated.

A spokeswoman said: "He was not manhandled in any way. There was no requirement for such action as the shopper was elderly and he complied with the request.

"The security staff are highly experienced in these situations and in dealing with elderly shoppers. They followed the usual procedures and the shopper was dealt with quickly and properly."

The store decided to crack down after customers who bought the Argus complained that the property supplement was missing because other shoppers had removed it.

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