A SHOPLIFTER who stole £3million worth of food and drink says people believe they’re entitled to take whatever they want nowadays.
Cullan Mais, 32, went to prison a whopping 10 times after stealing from stores in a spree which spanned three years.
The now-podcaster, from Cardiff, Wales, started taking heroin at the age of 18, which saw him trapped in the shoplifting lifestyle so he could fund his addiction.
He used to shockingly nab £2,000 of items every single day – admitting: “I didn’t care about getting arrested in six months’ time – the only thing I was thinking about was getting drugs for that day.”
As shoplifting rates hit an all-time high in the UK, Cullan said punishments need to be harsher after lax caging just spurred him on to continue.
He said: “People now have a licence to steal and it’s getting even worse with the cost-of-living crisis.
“I think personally, if it’s on an organised level, the sentences need to be harsher because at at the end of the day these people know penalties are weak.
“When you go to an off-licence, everything is behind Perspex – it’s a bit dystopian but it works.
“Big supermarkets should lock up all meat, booze, aftershave, and then just have a guy there whose job it is to unlock the goods for shoppers.”
Cullan said rates are increasing because sentences for shoplifting are shorter than for dealing drugs.
He said: “The moment I got [a car] is the moment I discovered shoplifting.
“This was next level – it made it so easy. You could just blag the stuff and make a getaway.
“I started off with local shops. At the start I used to ask people in my neighbourhood what they wanted and would go into the town centre and steal clothes.
“Then I started going to supermarkets and stealing food. You’d be amazed at how many people were after cheap meat and cheese.
“Co-op always had alcohol right on the shop floor, so that that quickly became my bread and butter.”
Cullan said it got to the point where he was making £2k-a-day “with ease” – largely from alcohol.
“The most I ever managed to steal in one go without a bag was 19 bottles of spirits,” he added.
“It was about six bottles of expensive gin, four bottles of whiskey, and a couple of bottles of Cîroc vodka, some champagne, Moet and Bollinger.”
According to sentencing guidelines, a shoplifting conviction will result in a criminal record and jail time.
A police caution may be given as an alternative to prosecution. If accepted, this caution still comes with a criminal record.
If the goods taken are worth less than £200, then the maximum sentence is six months’ custody.
However, if items stolen are worth more than £200, the maximum sentence is seven years’ custody.
Cullan decided to turn his life around when he was nicked for the 10th time at the age of 28.
Shortly after was rushed to hospital with pneumonia and sepsis following a decade of drug abuse.
After medics stabilised his condition, Cullan’s court date rolled around where he was able to tell them he had changed and was now clean.
“They agreed to give me a second chance, and didn’t give me a prison sentence,” Cullan said.
“After that I slowly managed to recover, both from my heroin and shoplifting addiction.
“In some ways the shoplifting was harder to kick than heroin.”
Cullan now works for a charity helping others who suffer from drug addictions.
