Rise of the middle-class shoplifter Part 2

Canadian psychologist Dr Will Cupchik has spent decades researching and working with what he describes as "atypical theft offenders" – the wealthy, celebrities or those in the public eye. The last thing these people need, he says, is to steal.

"There are many reasons why people who have so much to lose risk so much for so little," he says. "These are people who are reasonably well off and are basically honest. This is not typically about risk-taking - it's not done just for the thrill of it." He confirms that the shoplifting episodes are a response to what those people perceive as an experienced or anticipated "unfair, personally meaningful loss".

This might include anything from losing a TV show, to problems with an intimate relationship or a child with an illness, he says. "[The shoplifting] can be described as a hole that they want to fill – in the same way that people eat too much, drink too much or work too much." And in many cases, when caught, their behaviour doesn't make sense to them.

"In most cases, timing is important," Cupchik says. "I say to people, 'Tell me what happened in your life either earlier that day or the day before, and it will often be something profound."

He relates the story of a top lawyer who stole a tube of toothpaste from a chemist in the same building as his law firm. ‘I don't know why I did it,’ he told me, but that day his child was in hospital undergoing chemotherapy. These are intelligent people who virtually never understand why they did what they did." And, he says, there is usually a symbolic meaningfulness to the item being stolen. He describes one lady who stole items that she subsequently donated to a charity shop. One of those items was a wrench. He says the woman didn’t understand why she took the wrench but when quizzed about what was going on in her life at the time, she said that her husband, a mechanic, had cancer.

Recent research carried out by Cupchik in North America indicates that more doctors, nurses and police officers have been involved in shoplifting than any other profession. We can excuse alcoholics but a shoplifter may have the same issues - it is very complicated. Barbara Staib, National Association For Shoplifting Prevention says that "These are professions that deal with loss – such as loss of life – on a daily basis. They don't process how to handle the experience of loss."

Like many "non-professional" shoplifters, Worrall Thompson has expressed shame over his actions, describing the day he got caught as "the least proud day of my life".

"People can be very ashamed," says Staib. "One woman told us that she wished she was an alcoholic instead of a shoplifter." The woman explained that if she had told friends that she was an alcoholic and seeking treatment they would commend her for dealing with her problem. But if she told friends that she was a shoplifter and dealing with it, it would be a very different response.

"She said they would be afraid of her," says Staib. "People see shoplifting as more of a black-and-white issue – thou shalt not steal. In the US, someone who shoplifts is a "dirtbag" or a "loser". We can excuse alcoholics but a shoplifter may have the same issues – it is very complicated. It is an addiction and they need treatment.

However, she stresses that none of this makes their behaviour acceptable. "There are some very poor, distraught people who don't shoplift," she says.

The British TV chef has said that while there have been many things going on in his life, including stress and the funerals of a couple of friends, he was not trying to make excuses for his actions. Cases of stealing by what psychologists describe as "non-professional shoplifters" – those who don't steal for profit or resale, or to feed a drug or alcohol addiction – with these cases there appears to be much more going on psychologically.

Tom Campbell was forced to resign as an adviser to Boris Johnson when he openly admitted to shoplifting in an interview last year. “If I ever go into a chain place for lunch, I always have to steal something... so they don’t make a profit out of me. I always steal the pudding or the soup or something,” he gaily confessed. “When you’re, like, 40, they don’t grab you or anything. They just say 'Sir, I think you’ve made a mistake...’ Someone told me it’s so expensive to prosecute a shoplifter that all they ever do is say 'Excuse me, sir.’ And I say, 'Oh, God, I’m sorry. How did that get in my bag?’ That’s how I justify going into the chain [stores]. That’s the rule. If you go into a chain, you have to steal.”

But is shoplifting really a middle-class crime, or is it just that it’s often labelled alternatively. Looting, for example. Or stealing. Worrall Thompson got a caution for his “behaviour” (attempting to steal more than £70-worth of goods on five different occasions); during the London riots, a 23-year-old college student from south London received six months in prison for the “opportunistic” theft of a £3.50 case of bottled Lidl water.

The middle-class shoplifter, like Boris’s former adviser, thinks that by nicking the odd tuna sarnie from a multinational, they are sticking one up to the man, that they are setting their own “buy one get one free” rules. Their political statement is organic fruit and veg, posh cheese, or the odd bottle of champagne snuck into their bag at the self-service till. For that, a slap on the wrist. For the kid who nicked a pair of trainers during the riots, a different fate – and at least the kid had the vague motivation of living on a south London council estate rather than a four-bedroomed house in the Home Counties.

While researching her new book, The Steal: A Cultural History of Shoplifting, the American academic Rachel Shteir found many middle class people “who admitted to me that they [shoplifted], then admitted to me that they would continue to do it. People who shoplift tend to do so not because they need to, but because they feel wronged in some way, be it psychologically or culturally, by the Government. And in those terms, as we all know, the middle-classes are prone to feeling the most wronged.”

Worrall Thompson spent £180 on three crates of champagne at the same time that he shoplifted £4 of goods. Staff at Tesco, hid cameras to film his behaviour. “They were discreet,” said the chef, of the moment he was stopped last Friday. “They didn’t march me through the store or anything.”

The 60-year-old has spoken of the shame of letting his family and friends down. The big question, he says, is "why". Experts agree that in these cases, shoplifting is rarely about genuinely needing the item that is stolen. It is often about seizing the opportunity to momentarily exercise control when the perception is one of powerlessness.

Research by retail consultants Global Retail Theft Barometer and Checkpoint Systems has suggested a new wave of middle-class shoplifter is targeting high-end delicacies from supermarkets in order to maintain a lifestyle they could no longer afford. These are people who appear to be reputable and often justify their actions by arguing that they have become victims to the economic recession.
But in most cases of stealing by what psychologists describe as "non-professional shoplifters" – those who don't steal for profit or resale, or to feed a drug or alcohol addiction – there is much more going on.

A devastated Worrall Thompson, in an interview with the Daily Express, said that he was unable to comprehend what compelled him to take items such as onions, a sandwich, cheese and wine.
‘On one occasion I paid £180 for three crates of champagne and at the same time nicked £4 of stuff – how ridiculous and how stupid. I’ve been racking my brains to think why on earth did I do it and what was going through my mind at the time,’ he said.

Experts say this is a typical response from a "non-professional shoplifter". Shoplifting is generally a reaction to some kind of loss and a need to fill a void - real or perceived, argues Barbara Staib of the National Association For Shoplifting Prevention in the US.

"Shoplifters are generally honest citizens," she says, adding that research has revealed a "direct correlation between depression and shoplifting". She explains that while other people might turn to alcohol, or binge eating, others turn to shoplifting. "Some people are trying to find solace in shoplifting," she says. "It gives them the 'rush', a 'high' - it can be a relief, if only a temporary one, as they suffer remorse afterward, when they get caught.

"These are people who go into a store and the opportunity arises. For some reason they rationalise, they convince themselves that it's OK – for that moment. This is maladaptive behaviour – a way of coping with things that are going on in those people's lives."

Perhaps the phenomenon of the middle class shoplifter is best summed up by ‘Lucie’ - not her real name – who wrote a blog piece entitled ‘I earn good money, but I still shoplift’. In it she claims:
‘What matters is getting away with it, and having something that I got by one-upping and outsmarting the system. I know that my lifting is set on the easiest possible mode it can be (professional young adult white woman in nice clothes), but it still feels like victory. And even though I can afford a lot, relatively speaking, on what I currently earn, I want more. My wardrobe is that of someone with twice my salary, and it helps me out at work, whether I like to admit it or not. The problem though is that, even if I can admit to myself it’s an addiction and a compulsion and something I need to stop, like, yesterday, I can’t admit it to others. The way people judge lifting is way worse than if someone were addicted to a substance or booze or whatever. It comes with moral implications that I can’t bear. I would lose my job, I would lose friends, I might even lose family. I can’t come clean about it because the risks are too high, and even sending this story via email (from a fake account I made just to send it) fills me with panic. It’s a part of my personality that I simply cannot be open about right now, even if it would mean getting help for my compulsions. But at least I’ve gotten to the point where I can admit it to myself, even if that doesn’t mean stopping. I will always find an excuse to get that release and steal something new, because there will always be another bad day where a balled-up sweater in my purse is the best painkiller.’

That was two years ago. One wonders if ‘Lucie’ managed to give up her guilty secret before she got caught. As the police are fond of saying – ‘to get away with it, you have to be lucky 100 per cent of the time, whereas we only have to be lucky once’.

The rise of the middle class shoplifter Part 1

It’s hard to imagine why any celebrity would want or need to steal anything. Most of them are worth millions and can afford whatever their heart desires. They are also sent free stuff from designers and other brands, all the time!

So what is it about people who don’t need to steal, that makes them decide to walk out of a store with items for which they deliberately do not pay?

Experts say it’s an illness (kleptomania), and some people simply can’t help it and need professional help. Other people assume it’s just a gross sense of entitlement … that the celebrities think they are above the law and can do as they wish (and take what they want).

Real Housewives personality Kim Richards, who has a net worth of $1 millon  tried to steal not one but two trolleys full of toys and beauty products from Target, valued at $600. When caught, she claimed that she could not remember if she had or hadn’t paid for the goods. Kim is notorious for her substance abuse problems, though it is unlikely she was struggling financially.

A few other famous faces who have recently been nabbed for shoplifting are:

Kristen Cavallari

In 2006 Kristen was caught shoplifting clothes from a Tawny K store. The store neglected to press charges.

Britney Spears

During her infamous 2007 meltdown when she shaved her head, Britney Spears allegedly stole a wig from the Hustler store in Hollywood as well as a lighter from a gas station. Luckily, Spears is much healthier than she was a decade ago.

Lindsay Lohan

Mean Girls actress Lindsay Lohan has had her fair share of legal troubles.  In 2011 when she was already on probation for a DUI incident, Lohan got in trouble again when she walked out of a jewelry store wearing a $2,500 necklace.

Amanda Bynes

In 2014, actress Amanda Bynes suffered a psychotic break which led to her blasting people on social media and having various public incidents of distress. At the time, the What I Like About You actress was accused of stealing a $200 hat from Barney’s in New York City. Security pulled her back in but no charges were filed and Amanda left the store before the police arrived.

Megan Fox

Megan Fox is an example of a teenage shoplifter. She admitted to once stealing a $7 tube of lip gloss from Walmart and received a lifetime ban from the juggernaut retailer.


Winona Ryder

Probably the most famous case of celebrity shoplifting is that of Winona Ryder. For years, Winona Ryder was the poster girl for celebrity shoplifting after being caught trying to steal various items from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverley Hills. A year later, in 2002,  she was found guilty of grand theft and vandalism. In a piece with Interview magazine, Winona Ryder addressed for the first time since her arrest in 2001, her infamous shoplifting incident at Saks 5th Avenue in New York, where she was caught stealing $5000 worth of designer goods. Originally she blamed her actions on painkillers that she said she had got from a "quack" doctor after breaking her arm a few months earlier.

The painkillers, she said, left her in a state of "confusion".The incident was shocking, partly because of who she was – a successful actress at the top of her game – but also because it shone an international light on the less seen side to shoplifting – shoplifting as a psychological reaction to stress, or mental illness, rather than shoplifting as a need. Winona, like many shoplifters, could easily afford the items she stole. Indeed, had she wanted them so badly and had an issue with the payment, her stardom was such that had she contacted the designers from which she pilfered, they would most likely have gifted her the items. "Gifting" is so common and prevalent a custom, that celebrities are almost expected to receive clothing and goods for free nowadays. Having an attractive, cool, popular star associated with your brand is not only good advertising, but cheaper than paying them to do an advertising shoot. Sending free bags, sunglasses, clothing – any goods associated with your brand and having a popular "star" wear and be photographed in your items is "good business". Adversely, having an"uncool" personality overtly associated with your product can equally have a negative affect on your brand.

After her arrest, it was revealed that several of the items stolen were by Marc Jacobs. In a cynical but clever ploy, the designer resportedly sent Winona several thousand dollars worth of freebie items and then paid her a substantial sum to advertise an upcoming campaign. Like Kate Moss after her "Cocaine Kate" scandal, in the immediate aftermath of the scandal she appeared to suffer with the loss of campaigns, and in Winona’s case, had to endure an embarrassing trial and prosecution. However, having shown some contrition (in Kate's case, she whisked herself off to rehab, Winona paid the price in court) and allowed the dust on the matter to settle, the scandals, in the long run, appeared to have "upped" their cool stakes. To have given them an "edge". Both Kate and Winona came back from their respective scandals better and stronger. Kate Moss made more money in the year following her potentially career ending cause celebre than she had in the previous 3 years put together. And Winona, who took 2 years off after her prosecution, laid low, and stated in her recent interview that...'In a weird way, it was almost like the best thing that could have happened because I’d never asked myself the question before of, ''Is it okay if I’m not going to act? Is there anything else?'' because that was all that I really knew.' She is currently on a career high again – starring in the smash hit Stranger Things 2 on Netflix, whereas many of the actresses of her generation have fallen off the radar.

However, Winona today, looks back on her arrest as a wake up call, it allowed her to take time off from working and to reassess her life. In the interview she also acknowledges that her shoplifting was part of a greater depression. Referring to the incident, Winona said: 'That thing that happened, I was starting to have some trouble before that.'

"I think a lot of people think that that is what sort of sent me off in another direction, but I was actually starting to have some trouble a few years before." So her shoplifting appears to have been part of a greater malaise - a symptom of other 'troubles' in the actresses life.

So why would a young woman, who has no need to steal, who can afford the items she takes, risk the embarrassment and potentially her reputation and end of her career in front of the whole world? What is it that makes someone steal when the financial need isn't there?

Winona Ryder is a rare celebrity, in that she shoplifted items of value – $5,500 worth of clothing from a department store in Beverly Hills. For this, she received 480 hours of community service. The actress Lindsay Lohan was made to work at a morgue in Los Angeles as part of her sentencing for shoplifting a $2,500 necklace.

Like Winona Ryder, Lindsay Lohan – Hollywood’s one time troubled startlet du jour, has been in trouble for her light-fingered ways. Lohan, like Ryder can more than afford the items she took. And unlike Winona who appears to have curbed her light fingered ways after her catching and shaming, Lindsay Lohan has stolen many times, from shops and shoots and even reportedly from people's homes. Her shoplifting appears almost compulsive in nature.

At one point, Lindsay Lohan was Hollywood’s most famed troubled young star – not a day went by without her appearance in a tabloid chronicling her car crash lifestyle, her trips to rehab for her various addictions and her general inability to 'hold her life together'. In such cases, is shoplifting an outlet for when we feel we are mentally breaking down? Like Winona, Lindsay was struggling for several years before her shoplifting or general stealing brought to the attention of the media that her life was spiralling out of control. Again this appeared to be stealing as a symptom of a generally more troubled personality. In such cases where the stealing isn’t an outright need, what is it symptomatic of?  Is it a cry for help? An expression of control when we feel we have none? Does it fills a hole caused by loss – actual or perceived? Does it makes us feel in control when our lives are spiralling out of control. What of its compulsive nature? But most interestingly, why are these people risking everything for the sake of a few pounds?

When it was revealed in a report that middle-class teenagers were fuelling a rise in thieving, Harry Kauffer, the founder of a charity Crisis Counselling for Alleged Shoplifters, announced that “a typical shoplifter used to be a drug addict. Now it’s girls from well-off families. Many of these are doing it for kicks. Today’s youngsters are often spoilt and arrogant and think they can get away with anything. Also, along with a surge in divorces, many do it as a cry for attention. And young girls are now more materialistic. They want to emulate celebrities and wear fashionable clothes.” Revealingly, he goes on to comment: “They come from affluent backgrounds but unfortunately their parents have had to cut back on their spending,” he added.

“They are not spending the amount of money they used to and can’t afford to give the gifts they normally would. Under normal conditions you couldn’t get into these girls bedrooms because of the electrical items in them.” Again, the notion of some form of loss appears to be the culprit.

When it comes to celebrities and shoplifting, it's not always young troubled startlets like Winona, Lindsey Lohan and Amanda Bynes. Middle aged male television presenters also seem to  have fallen into the tempting siren’s call of the five-finger discount. Who could forget Richard Madeley at the height of his Richard and Judy fame sneaking out of Sainsbury's with 5 bottles of concealed champagne he 'forgot' to pay for.  Anthony Worrall Thompson was cautioned in Tesco's for stealing cheese and wine. On five different occasions. The face of the shoplifter has changed in the publics perception from that of the desperate junkie stealing to fund a habit to a face that is resoundingly middle class. Richard Madeley and Anthony Worrall Thompson were hardly stealing a loaf of bread because they were starving – and it was what would be considered the luxuries of the middle classes that they took – wine, continental cheeses and champagne. It has been suggested that this is perhaps entirely appropriate – that the recession meant middle class folk had to cut back on their luxuries, and it’s this sense of injustice that prompted them to react in this extreme way. Rather than swap the Bolly for a Cava, instead one just takes what one feels one is owed. The psychology of loss is often alluded to in these shoplifting cases – in Anthony Worrall Thompson's case, it was suggested at the time that his stealing was a symptom of his sense of loss based on difficulties he was going through at the time in his restaurant business. As a victim of the recession he was left with his sense of victimhood and thus feeling of entitlement – the supermarket from which he stole owed him – or so he felt. It’s interesting that he wasn’t stealing clothes or shoes. Anthony Worrall Thompson stole food – ironically, the basis of his bread and butter as it were. And it doesn’t have to be a financial loss that can spur someone’s desire to steal – as in the case of Anthony Worrall Thompson. Any loss can leave someone with a sense of something missing in their lives – the loss of a loved one, a job, self-respect. The shoplifting makes the shoplifter feel as if they are filling that hole that has been made by the loss.

For Part 2 of 'Rise of the middle-class shoplifter' see next week's blog.

Inside the World of Britain's Professional Shoplifters

Plenty of people have indulged in some sort of shoplifting. The onion scam at a supermarket checkout, a drunken dine-and-dash, a felt jester hat nabbed from one of those shops at Glastonbury made out of metal poles, bunting and dreamcatchers – it all counts. But while most amateurs tend to pack it in at puberty, or at least once they're old enough to pay their own bills, for others it can become a full-time career. And around Christmas time, those professional shoplifters are known to considerably step up their game.

Throughout her 45-year stint as a shoplifter, 54-year-old Kim Farry says she made £2 million and took home an average of £50,000 a year. "Because you're not a shoplifter, you couldn't imagine that I could go into a shop and take two grand's worth at a time," she tells me. "It was a living, it was my job. I didn't look at it like I was doing anything wrong, and I think that's why I got away with it."

Nicknamed Britain's "Shoplifting Queen" by the tabloids, Farry first got into five-finger discounts at the age of nine. "I got caught and cautioned for a Marc Bolan badge when I was 11," she tells me. "My dad used to say, 'You want to give it up, you're no good at it, stop thieving,' and I used to think, 'You should look after mum and I wouldn't have to.'"

Shoplifting is a crime as old as retail itself. From ancient Egypt to the Roman Empire, where the punishment for stealing could – in the worst cases – be a death sentence, through to the scammers and pickpockets of 16th century London – who risked being hanged if they were caught – people have always stolen goods from shops, whether out of necessity or just for the thrill of it.

By the early 19th century, shoplifting was no longer a crime punishable by death in the UK and had, according to Kerry Segrave's Shoplifting: A Social History, largely become as popular with women as it had been with men. South London's all-female shoplifting gang the Forty Thieves, founded in 1865, were responsible for the largest shoplifting operation the UK has ever seen, fleecing shops out of thousands of pounds by hiding goods in clothes specifically designed for thievery.

By the 1960s, shoplifting had been rechristened as a political act. In 1971's The Anarchist Cookbook, William Powell wrote that "shoplifting can get you high", while in 1970's Steal This Book Abbie Hoffman declared that "ripping off is an act of revolutionary love". You get the idea; shoplifting was seen as a fuck you to the capitalist system – an ethically-defendable crime. Contemporary counter-cultural groups like the Spanish anarchist collective YomangoYomango (which translates as "I Steal") continue this tradition of ideological shoplifting, distributing their pickings from global corporations to wider society.

Read more here