I've stolen £20,000 from the high street & half of my holiday wardrobe was ‘free' from Primark – I can't help it
Buried amongst them and out of plain sight is a swimsuit and two t-shirts but I have absolutely no intention of paying for them.
3
3
I've been doing this on a weekly basis since I booked my holiday to Portugal earlier this year.
On one level I feel very guilty, stealing is wrong but it feels like a compulsion that makes me feel alive.
Not only do I get a buzz while I'm stealing, but when I put on the swimsuit to stroll down to the beach next month, I'll feel another thrill.
I don't steal because I'm broke - I earn a decent wage and can afford the clothes - I do it out of excitement and greed.
I feel it has turned into an addiction.
I've been shoplifting for the past five years and if I add up the price of all the items I've swiped, it totals around £20,000 - or £10 a day.
I'm the last person you'd think is a thief. I work as an estate agent and I've been married for 14 years. I don't have kids myself but I adore my seven godchildren and I volunteer for a homeless charity.
My taste for petty thieving started as a teenager, when I'd help myself to the odd lipstick from Boots and a photo frame from a local card shop.
I'd dabble in shoplifting if I'd spent all my £10 a week pocket money, but it was rare.
For years I stayed on the straight and narrow because I had money, socialised constantly, and loved going to the gym. My life was exciting enough.
My shoplifting addiction began completely out of the blue during the Covid 19 pandemic.
I'm an extrovert, and the isolation of not working and being in the company of only my husband John, 46, took its toll.
Ironically, he works in security at a shopping centre near our four-bed home in a leafy part of Manchester but he had no idea that he'd soon be living under the same roof as a seasoned thief.
Greggs will raise prices next week in hikes branded a 'theft tax', as Sun reporters again witnessed brazen thefts across UK
It was in April 2020 when I stole a block of cheese from Tesco.
I've no idea what came over me – I'd filled my basket and started putting the overflow into my tote bag as I browsed the aisles with the intention of paying at the checkout.
But when I reached the tills, I paid for everything else except the cheddar.
I'd acted on impulse and whilst I felt prickled with shame, I also felt strangely excited about what I'd just done.
It gave me something else to think about other than how miserable and lonely I felt.
During my next trip to the supermarket I did it again and it has continued from there.
I swore to myself that I'd stop once lockdown ended and life was back to normal but the exact opposite has happened.
Five years later I feel ashamed to say I'm addicted - I steal from everywhere, on a daily basis.
'I feel guilty'
I help myself to face creams and nail varnishes on cosmetic stands and food essentials in big supermarkets.
Stealing a candle from Primark for the first time two years ago I felt no other buzz like it.
I can't stop. Half of my summer holiday wardrobe is 'free' thanks to Primark.
I would never steal from a small independent shop because they don't have the big profits that chains do.
3
I never hide items, my stealing could be taken for being accidental.
It's a case of 'forgetting' to scan everything at the tills and I always make a purchase. If I was confronted I could easily pretend I'd made a mistake and got in a muddle.
If I buy a bunch of flowers I put two in my basket, but scan only one at the self scanning checkout.
And I also make sure I've got a basket full of items.
I wasn't surprised when I read recently that £2.2billion a year is lost in the UK to shoplifting or that it costs Primark more than it pays in rates.
It's an alarming number yet I'm not alone in my friendship group in contributing to the losses.
I've confessed my addiction to a couple of friends - ordinary women like me - and half of them admit they shoplift too.
Even the ones you'd never suspect, which normalises what I do.
I operate on a policy of plausible deniability – so I can easily pretend it's a mistake and I got in a muddle.
Zoe Walters*Shoplifter
Years ago a friend told me she was bored with her ordinary life and that she was either going to take up shoplifting or have an affair – I was shocked.
But now I understand where she was coming from, and I will always be a loyal wife.
I would never tell my husband – he'd be livid - and I was mortified to almost be caught by my mum recently.
We'd been to Primark and among the items I didn't scan was a red dress she wanted.
Later, after trying it on, she changed her mind and asked for the receipt to take it back for a refund.
Terrified of shoulder tap
I had to feign surprise as I looked at the receipt, claiming that it must not have scanned at the till.
I told her I'd take it back - but I sold it on Vinted instead.
I felt ashamed because I know how upset my mum would be if she knew the truth.
And I live in fear of being caught in the act.
That tap on my shoulder is what I dread more than anything because the thought of what might happen if I was prosecuted is horrendous.
However, like with any addiction the buzz outweighs the risks and for now I'll carry on.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Wife of former NBA player Danilo Gallinari bitten by shark in Puerto Rico
The pregnant wife of former NBA star Danilo Gallinari was bitten by what experts believe may have been a shark during a terrifying beach outing in Puerto Rico. The Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA) dropped the bombshell Thursday afternoon, revealing that the bite - sustained while the woman was swimming at the popular Carolina Resort - shows signs that it could be from a shark. Gallinari, originally from Italy, is currently suiting up for the Vaqueros de Bayamón in Puerto Rico's National Superior Basketball League (BSN). Carolina Municipal Police Commissioner Captain Rubén Moyeno confirmed earlier in the day that the woman suffered an open wound on her thigh in the attack, but that she is in stable condition. Although officials did not release the name of the 39-year-old victim for security reasons, Moyeno confirmed that she is Gallinari's wife and noted that she is also pregnant, El Nuevo Dia reported in Spanish. Following the incident, she was transported to the Medical Center in Río Piedras for treatment. DRNA biologist Nilda Jiménez, coordinator of the agency's Protected Species Program, reviewed photographs of the wound provided by the Municipal Police. In a written statement, she explained that the characteristics of the bite could be consistent with those of a shark. 'This afternoon, we were informed of an incident that occurred in an area of Carolina. At this time, DRNA biologists have not had the opportunity to assess the wound in person,' Jiménez said in Spanish. 'Based on the photographs provided to us, we believe the characteristics of the bite could be compatible with those of a shark, but to validate this, a series of analyses would be necessary. For this purpose, medical personnel were asked for samples, which, if available, would be analyzed promptly,' she added.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Trial delays for most serious crimes set to grow longer
The most serious cases coming before Scotland's courts could be faced with even longer delays, despite the system's ongoing recovery from the Covid number of cases waiting to go on trial in the overall court system is now lower than at any time since the first lockdown was imposed in March at the same time there has been a significant increase in cases sent to the High Court, which deals with offences including murder, attempted murder, rape, terrorism and death by dangerous a limited pool of judges and defence lawyers and no scope to increase capacity, the backlog at that level is now expected to build. In Scotland, criminal cases are heard in three types of courts: the High Court of Justiciary, Sheriff Courts, and Justice of the Peace the year before Covid, 1,024 cases were registered at the High are predicting that is going to rise to 1,404 this financial year, a 40% increase on the figure before the pandemic. The average waiting time between an accused pleading not guilty and their High Court trial had been falling but is now creeping back year it is expected to be 43 weeks, compared to 22 before the Support Scotland says it is not unusual for cases to take as long two years to get to court after the initial incident or organisation's chief executive Kate Wallace said: "It's too traumatising for people."Having to try to remember and keep that memory of what happened in the forefront of their mind so they can give good evidence at court, asking people to do that for two years and longer, it's inhumane."We need to recognise that what we're asking of people is not in the interests of justice." Before the pandemic, the number of scheduled trials across the whole system was 18, peaked at 43,606 in January 2022 but introducing extra courts and using cinemas as Covid-safe jury centres helped get the backlog down. It's now standing at 17,873. Malcolm Graham, chief executive at the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, is calling for a multi-million pound investment to modernise the system and relieve pressure on the High Court. He said: "I'm very concerned about the position in the High Court. I'm acutely aware that it has a huge impact on victims and witnesses and the accused."If cases take longer, there's a danger that justice isn't best served and that's not what our ambition is."Mr Graham argues that Scotland's courts are in desperate need of more digital infrastructure and technology, emulating a £1bn investment in the courts in England and Wales."The criminal justice system at the moment is largely a paper based system and that slows everything down," he said."It doesn't appear to be an option for public services to just keep growing. We have to get targeted investment into technology and better ways of working." Senior defence lawyer Tony Lenehan KC, vice-dean of the Faculty of Advocates, said increased funding for prosecutors has allowed more cases to be brought forward and should be matched with increased funding for the courts service."If there are no changes to the resources available to the courts, you're going to inevitably have longer delays both for witnesses waiting to give the important evidence and for people, potentially held in custody, awaiting trial," he said."The (Scottish) government needs to look again at the fact that although they've invested more in the prosecution, they need to invest more again in the courts, to allow the bandwidth to be expanded, so that we can deal with things at the rate and the efficiency that we presently are."A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: "Together with our criminal justice sector partners, we are working at pace to respond to the increase in cases reported to us, and to address the changing landscape of increasingly complex prosecutions." Digital evidence sharing The Scottish government said it had provided over £201m to help the system recover from the impact of the pandemic, including £20.3m for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service for the current financial year."Scotland is the only part of the UK to have brought court backlog levels back down to below Covid levels," said a government says journey times in criminal court cases are being reduced through digital evidence sharing and an initiative called summary case management, which has also resulted in more cases being resolved at an earlier stage without going to believes that two bills currently before parliament will also be key to modernising the justice system.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Russian strikes kill 16 people in Kyiv, including two children
KYIV, July 31 (Reuters) - Russia launched waves of missiles and drones on Kyiv before dawn on Thursday, killing 16 people including two children, and wounding well over 100 others, officials in the Ukrainian capital said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking earlier in his nightly video address, put the death toll at 14 and said rescue operations were continuing into the evening. The Interior Ministry said more than 1,200 police and rescuers were tackling the aftermath. Ukraine's national rescue service said the toll rose to 16 after another body had been retrieved from underneath rubble. Zelenskiy said dozens remained in hospital. The rescue service said 16 of the injured were children, the largest number of children hurt in a single attack on the city since Russia started its full-scale invasion almost 3-1/2 years ago. In an earlier post on Telegram, the president said Russia had launched more than 300 drones and eight missiles. "Today the world has once again seen Russia's response to our desire for peace ... Therefore, peace without strength is impossible." City authorities announced a day of mourning to be held on Friday. Russia's Defence Ministry said it targeted and hit Ukrainian military airfields and ammunition depots as well as businesses linked to what it called Kyiv's military-industrial complex. Explosions rocked Kyiv from about midnight onward and blazes lit up the night sky. Yurii Kravchuk, 62, stood wrapped in a blanket next to a damaged building with a bandage around his head. He had heard the missile alert but did not get to a shelter in time, he told Reuters. "I started waking up my wife and then there was an explosion. My daughter ended up in the hospital," he said. Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has stepped up air strikes in recent months on Ukrainian towns and cities far from the front lines of the war. Thousands of civilians, the vast majority of them Ukrainian, have been killed since Moscow invaded in 2022. Kyiv and Moscow have held three rounds of talks in Istanbul this year that yielded exchanges of prisoners and bodies, but no breakthrough to defuse the conflict. At one location in Kyiv, rescuers spent more than three hours reaching a man trapped in rubble by cutting through the wall of a neighbouring apartment, the Interior Ministry said. The man talked to the emergency services during the operation and was pulled out alive, it added. A five-month-old baby was among the wounded, with five children hospitalized, the head of Kyiv's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said on national television. Schools and hospitals were among the buildings damaged across 27 locations in the capital, officials said. "The attack was extremely insidious and deliberately calculated to overload the air defence system," Zelenskiy wrote on X. He posted a video of burning ruins, saying people were still trapped under the rubble of one partially-ruined residential building as of the morning. U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, sharply criticized Russia's "disgusting" behavior against Ukraine and said he planned to impose sanctions on Moscow if no agreement could be reached. Trump said he was not sure whether sanctions would deter Russia. He has given Russian President Vladimir Putin until August 8 to make a deal or else he will respond with economic pressure. Trump said U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff would travel to Russia after his current trip to Israel. A senior U.S. diplomat, John Kelly, told the United Nations Security Council that Trump had made clear that he wants a deal to end the war by August 8. On Tuesday, Trump said Washington will start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia if Moscow shows no progress toward ending the conflict. "This is Putin's response to Trump's deadlines," Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. "The world must respond with a tribunal and maximum pressure." The air force reported five direct missile hits and 21 drone hits in 12 locations. Ukrainian air defence units downed 288 drones and three cruise missiles, the air force added.
