00:00 started shoplifting to find out how I started shoplifting really you should
00:03 know how how it all all started really. Once I got addicted to heroin my family
00:09 didn't know about it at the time and I was getting money off them they were
00:12 kind of funding it without them knowing and I was working here and everywhere as
00:16 well but you know when they kind of clocked on to my addiction it went from
00:21 me selling all my private goods and stuff and then I started to go into the
00:26 city centre as a town and basically black people for many and pretend like I
00:31 was a lost student because I just I didn't want to commit crimes but once
00:36 that ran out once that novelty ran out and people knew what I was up to I
00:40 literally had no choice but to then commit crimes I thought that shoplifting
00:44 was kind of like the easiest way without actually you know doing a terrible crime
00:51 so to speak on the levels of criminality I think shoplifting at the bottom
00:56 so that's how we started we started off just locally you know shops in my city
01:03 in my city but once I met a girl my ex-girlfriend who had a set of wheels
01:08 it was kind of game over for me because then that is when I started to go out of
01:12 Cardiff out of my city hit a few small towns and come come back and sell it all
01:17 for half price. How do you stop shoplifting? I don't think you can stop
01:23 it fully. The climate we're in right now cost a living crisis not only have you
01:28 got the people like myself who are struggling with addictions who are
01:32 shoplifting but you also got people who were just struggling financially as well
01:36 and it's a double-edged sword as well because it's not only the people who are
01:41 shoplifting but people would rather buy off the shoplifters rather than go and
01:46 spend X amounts on a piece of steak instead of spending over five pounds on
01:50 one steak they'd rather spend ten pounds on ten steaks so the climate we're in
01:54 right now has made it a lot lot worse and prices are going up people are
01:58 struggling so I don't think you will ever stop that I do have my ideas which
02:03 I think I've learned over the last couple of years that could help stop a
02:06 lot of things talking about deterrence I know like security I didn't really want
02:11 to go into shops that had security I didn't want to roll on the floor and get
02:15 chased down the street I wanted to go in and come out discreetly and make sure
02:20 that I had my fix at the end of the day but there's loads of obvious ones
02:25 obviously I chose cooperative shops because they always had alcohol on shop
02:28 floor they will say to you that that's that's a way to to make sales but let me
02:33 tell you it's a way to lose sales because people will hit what's on that
02:38 floor and if you've got alcohol on the shop floor they're getting stolen. What
02:42 are some of the ways I used to use to get away from shoplifting I used to go
02:47 in dress smart no bags I just go in looking quite casual I'd always purchase
02:53 something whilst I was in there even if it cost 50p for a pack of chewing gums
02:58 just to make sure that I you know I've gone in there and purchased something I
03:01 haven't just gone in there and walked out for them to be suspicious I'd even
03:04 go in there with a ten pound note and just ask for two five pound notes just
03:07 so they could see I've gone in there and interacted with them I think you have
03:11 two different types of shoplifting and I have done both but you have the one that
03:16 goes in there goes in discreet and tries to come out with as much as they can and
03:20 then you've got the ones who literally just go in there we call them kamikaze
03:25 pilots they'll just rack up everything and do a runner I have done that you
03:30 know at the lowest of times but the majority of times I did it I would go in
03:35 and conceal everything in my deep pockets how did I turn it round I turned
03:39 it round because I stopped taking drugs it's as simple as that during 2020
03:44 lockdown I got rushed to hospital thought I was gonna die for the first
03:48 time ever I genuinely wanted to change I thought I cannot go on like this
03:52 anymore I didn't have another prison sentence in me and I certainly didn't
03:56 have another heroin rattle within me yeah I turned it round because I
04:00 stopped taking drugs don't get it twisted I think shoplifting is an
04:03 addiction and I've got an addictive personality and the buzz and you know
04:08 traveling the country and making easy money is is definitely something that
04:13 you know appealed to me but as soon as I stopped taking drugs I knew that was it
04:20 for me typical day of shoplifting would include planning my destination the day
04:24 before getting up early getting on the motorway getting to our location and
04:29 then typing cooperative shops say like we went to Birmingham for the day type
04:34 in cooperative shops around Birmingham we were trying to avoid the the heavily
04:39 deprived areas because they're more than likely being hit hard by shoplifting as
04:44 well and there wouldn't be much on the shop floors we would look for the nice
04:47 suburban areas in and around Birmingham and then what we would do is work our
04:51 way back down to Cardiff in every valley village town whatever we could until the
04:58 car was full soon as we get home we'd ring up some of our contacts who would
05:02 buy in bulk and sell it all as soon as I've sold it I'm going straight to my
05:06 drug dealer I'm locking up in a flat and I'm starting all over again in the
05:10 morning but you've got to realize as well it's not just people who buy in
05:13 bulk you could walk down any local street in my area and in any other area
05:18 and people will just take your hand off for whatever you got people love a
05:22 bargain it costs too much in the shops these days and you can sell anything
05:26 from cheese to meat to washing up detergents anything people really love a
05:33 bargain so selling it wasn't the problem either but that was a typical day if
05:37 there was anything I could say to anyone struggling with drug addiction it would
05:42 be that it's never too late to change and I know that's very cliche and easy
05:46 to say coming from someone who is on the other side but I never ever thought I'd
05:51 be on this side and you've got a criminal record that's thicker than the
05:55 yellow pages and it's all for the same thing shoplifting shoplifting shoplifting
06:00 you never think there's any anything more to your life but the fact of the
06:03 matter is there is an opportunity there for you services and people in the drug
06:09 sector are looking for people with lived experience more than ever so yeah it's
06:13 never too late and do you really want to be nicking meat and Cathedral City for
06:18 the rest of your life going in and out of prison for it I know it's easy money
06:22 but it's really, really not the way to live.
06:24 So that's what I would say.
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