Former shoplifter Cullan Mais speaks on punishment for crime

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 Mais during his time as a shoplifter (Image: SWNS)

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.  

“I had a Barber gilet on with chest pockets, normal pockets, and in the back, it had a wide pocket that you could put stuff in.”

Cullan Mais during his childhood in south Wales (Image: SWNS)

Cullan explained he believes there are two types of shoplifters.

“You get shop lifters who are clever, who are smart about it and ones who we call kamikaze - they swipe it and walk out without really thinking,” he said.

“I would replace the bottle space in the shop so people weren’t suspicious, and I would avoid the big shops for security.

“I didn’t care about getting arrested in six months' time - the only thing I was thinking about was getting drugs for that day.”

Cullan says everything changed after he was caught by police in August 2020 when he was 28 - his 10th conviction for shoplifting.

He was set a date for court in October 2020, but shortly after was rushed to hospital with pneumonia and sepsis after a decade of drug abuse caught up with him.

While in hospital, Cullan almost died, with doctors just managing to stabilise his condition.

He remained hospitalised for a month before being discharged and put on Buvidal - a new drug that helps people get off heroin which he says is a “game changer.”

With his court date two months away, Cullan vowed to stay clean for good.

When his sentencing date arrived at Cardiff Magistrates Court, Cullan was able to tell the court he was clean and had made big changes in his life after his near-death experience - with the prosecution saying they they had seen a genuine change in him.

"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.

“Every day I still get people calling me asking me if I’ve got stuff in, it's mad."

Cullan Mais as a child with his family (Image: SWNS)

Cullan says he could make just as much money as a drug dealer but with a lower risk of lengthy prison sentences.

"I also was not taking advantage of people," he said.

"The way I saw it, I was stealing from big corporations with millions of pounds in the bank."

Cullan now works for Kaleidoscope - a charity which helps people suffering with drug addictions - and has a podcast where he talks about his former struggles called 'the Central Club'.

“Now I just want to focus on my charity work and make a real difference,” he said.

Cullan Mais today having completely turned his life around (Image: SWNS)

Cullan says the eight ways for to end the UK's shoplifting epidemic are - 
- Make sentencing for shoplifting much harsher
- Lock away all meat and booze and have a specific person employed 
- Always have tills close to the exits for added security
- Be aware of blind spots tucked away and make sure you keep an eye on them at all times
- Keep the ultra-valuable stuff off the shop floor
- Use empty boxes for higher valuable goods if they need to be displayed
- Have security on the shop floor at all times
- Don't keep any spirits on shop floors