Former shoplifter who stole £3m worth of items: "Brits now have a licence to steal"
- 10 days ago
A former shoplifter who stole £3million worth of items says Brits now have "a licence to steal" as shoplifting incidents hit record highs.
Cullan Mais, 32, used to shoplift £2k of items a day - up to £14k-a-week - before turning his life around.
He now suggests the only way for the UK to counter the rise in shoplifting is to change the law - making sentences longer as a deterrent.
Cullan went to prison 10 times, all for shoplifting offences, and served a total of three years.
He is now on the straight and narrow but believes "People now have a licence to steal and it's getting even worse with the cost-of-living crisis".
Cullan, a podcaster who works for a charity that helps people with drug addictions, from Cardiff, Wales, said: "People now have total licence to steal.
"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 says one of the reasons he would shoplift so much is because the sentences for shoplifting weren't off-putting.
"I used to weigh it up and think I'd rather go out and make thousands a day nicking stuff rather than risking my life trying to sell drugs - and getting a much longer sentence if I was caught," he said.
For people with substance abuse issues however, Cullan says rehabilitation needs to be much better.
"When I was in prison, there was no attempt at rehabilitation for my drug addiction the whole time I was inside," he said.
"There's no after care provided and there's no hope, as soon as I got out I just went out and did it again."
In total, Cullan went to prison 10 times, all for shoplifting offences, and served a total of three years.
He began taking heroin when he was 18.
By 22, he was struggling to fund his addiction, until in 2010 he managed to get his hands on a car.
Cullan said: “The moment I got wheels 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.
“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.
Cullan Mais, 32, used to shoplift £2k of items a day - up to £14k-a-week - before turning his life around.
He now suggests the only way for the UK to counter the rise in shoplifting is to change the law - making sentences longer as a deterrent.
Cullan went to prison 10 times, all for shoplifting offences, and served a total of three years.
He is now on the straight and narrow but believes "People now have a licence to steal and it's getting even worse with the cost-of-living crisis".
Cullan, a podcaster who works for a charity that helps people with drug addictions, from Cardiff, Wales, said: "People now have total licence to steal.
"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 says one of the reasons he would shoplift so much is because the sentences for shoplifting weren't off-putting.
"I used to weigh it up and think I'd rather go out and make thousands a day nicking stuff rather than risking my life trying to sell drugs - and getting a much longer sentence if I was caught," he said.
For people with substance abuse issues however, Cullan says rehabilitation needs to be much better.
"When I was in prison, there was no attempt at rehabilitation for my drug addiction the whole time I was inside," he said.
"There's no after care provided and there's no hope, as soon as I got out I just went out and did it again."
In total, Cullan went to prison 10 times, all for shoplifting offences, and served a total of three years.
He began taking heroin when he was 18.
By 22, he was struggling to fund his addiction, until in 2010 he managed to get his hands on a car.
Cullan said: “The moment I got wheels 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.
“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.