A former shoplifter who stole £3million worth of items says Brits now have "a licence to steal" as shoplifting incidents hit record highs.<br /><br />Cullan Mais, 32, used to shoplift £2k of items a day - up to £14k-a-week - before turning his life around.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />Cullan went to prison 10 times, all for shoplifting offences, and served a total of three years.<br /><br />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". <br /><br />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. <br /><br />"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.<br /><br />"When you go to an off licence, everything is behind Perspex - it's a bit dystopian but it works.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />Cullan says one of the reasons he would shoplift so much is because the sentences for shoplifting weren't off-putting. <br /><br />"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.<br /><br />For people with substance abuse issues however, Cullan says rehabilitation needs to be much better. <br /><br />"When I was in prison, there was no attempt at rehabilitation for my drug addiction the whole time I was inside," he said. <br /><br />"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."<br /><br />In total, Cullan went to prison 10 times, all for shoplifting offences, and served a total of three years.<br /><br />He began taking heroin when he was 18.<br /><br />By 22, he was struggling to fund his addiction, until in 2010 he managed to get his hands on a car.<br /><br />Cullan said: “The moment I got wheels is the moment I discovered shoplifting.<br /><br />“This was next level - it made it so easy. You could just blag the stuff and make a getaway.<br /><br />“I started off with local shops.<br /><br />“At the start I used to ask people in my neighbourhood what they wanted and would go into the town centre and steal clothes.<br /><br />“Then I started going to supermarkets and stealing food.<br /><br />“You’d be amazed at how many people were after cheap meat and cheese. <br /><br />“Co-op always had alcohol right on the shop floor, so that that quickly became my bread and butter."<br /><br />Cullan said it got to the point where he was making £2k-a-day “with ease” - largely from alcohol.<br /><br />“The most I ever managed to steal in one go without a bag was 19 bottles of spirits. <br /><br />“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.
