An ex-shoplifter who claims he pinched £3million worth of items says it's too easy for thieves to get away with it and suggests shops display empty boxes and less alcohol on the shop floor to combat crime.
Cullan Mais, 32, says he used to steal £2k of items a day - but has turned his life around and now helps to prevent shoplifting.
Cullan Mais, 32, says he used to steal £2k of items a day - but has turned his life around and now helps to prevent shoplifting.
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00:00 and you've got a criminal record that's thicker than a yellow pages and it's all for the same thing
00:05 shoplifting, shoplifting, shoplifting. You never think there's anything more to your life
00:10 but the fact of the matter is there is an opportunity there for you.
00:14 A typical day of shoplifting would include planning my destination the day before,
00:19 getting up early, getting on the motorway, getting to our location and then typing around Birmingham.
00:27 We would try to avoid the heavily deprived areas because they're more than likely being hit hard
00:32 by shoplifting as well and there wouldn't be much on the shop floors.
00:35 We would look for the nice suburban areas in and around Birmingham
00:39 and then what we would do is work our way back down to Cardiff,
00:43 hitting every valley, village, town, whatever we could until the car was full.
00:48 As soon as we get home we'd ring up some of our contacts who would buy in bulk and sell it all.
00:53 As soon as I've sold it I'm going straight to my drug dealer, I'm locking up in a flat
00:58 and I'm starting all over again in the morning.
01:00 I turned it around because I stopped taking drugs, it's as simple as that.
01:03 During 2020 lockdown I got rushed to hospital, thought I was going to die.
01:08 For the first time ever I genuinely wanted to change, I thought I cannot go on like this anymore.
01:14 I didn't have another prison sentence in me and I certainly didn't have another heroin rattle within me.
01:19 Yeah, it's never too late to change and I know that's very cliche and easy to say
01:24 coming from someone who is on the other side but I never ever thought I'd be on this side.
01:29 Services and people in the drug sector are looking for people with lived experience more than ever.
01:35 So yeah, it's never too late and do you really want to be nicking meat and Cathedral City for the rest of your life?
01:42 Going in and out of prison for it?
01:44 I know it's easy money but it's really, really not the way to live.