Richard Madeley was branded an ‘absolute hypocrite’ for his ‘delusional and embarrassing’ comments during a Good Morning Britain debate on shoplifting.
The 69-year-old presenter, who has previously spoken about his own arrest for allegedly failing to pay for items in the 1990s, came under fire from viewers as he weighed in on a panel discussion about whether shoplifters should face tougher punishments.
Tuesday’s debate featured Keeley Knowles, once Birmingham‘s most prolific shoplifter, who spoke candidly about her past addiction and how rehabilitation rather than prison sentences is key to tackling reoffending.
Keeley told the programme: ‘I’ve been to jail 28 times, it doesn’t work. Instead of sending us to jail, treat the root cause, which is the addiction, and we have no need to commit crime anymore.’
Richard responded: ‘But not everybody shoplifts because they have an addiction.’
She clarified: ‘No, but a massive amount of shop theft is due to addiction. I’m sure it’s something like 70 per cent or more.
Richard Madeley (pictured) has been branded an ‘absolute hypocrite’ for his ‘delusional and embarrassing’ comments during Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain debate on shoplifting
The debate featured Keeley Knowles (pictured), once Birmingham ‘s most prolific shoplifter, who spoke candidly about addiction and how rehabilitation is key to tackling reoffending
‘If you want to send them to jail, send them to jail, but sentences aren’t long for shoplifting. Since the day I started my programme, I haven’t committed any crime, taken drugs, nothing.’
The discussion then shifted to whether ordinary people should intervene when they witness shoplifting, and Richard appeared particularly interested in the legal limits of physical intervention.
He said: ‘A lot of people are very worried that they will be accused of using unreasonable force.’
He went on to share his own recent experience, recalling how he saw someone looting a shelf in Boots.
Richard said he had his arm in a splint at the time but was ‘very tempted’ to trip the thief. ‘I’d be prosecuted for using unreasonable force,’ he added.
However, many viewers were left unimpressed, accusing Richard of hypocrisy given his own past brush with the law.
In 1994, the presenter was arrested for allegedly failing to pay for items including champagne on two occasions at a Tesco supermarket in Walkden, Greater Manchester.
He always denied any wrongdoing and cited a lapse of memory. A jury later found him not guilty of theft.
But Richard, 69, who has previously spoken about his own arrest for allegedly failing to pay for items in the 1990s, came under fire from viewers
Some viewers also expressed frustration that Keeley’s message about tackling addiction as a root cause of crime was overshadowed by Richard’s focus on physical intervention
Speaking about the incident last year, Richard said: ‘Thank God Twitter wasn’t around then. But the whole thing was so self-evidently b****cks, that my not paying was an oversight.
‘It was leaked by someone at Tesco. At the time though, I thought, “Well, of course it’s going to be okay because otherwise the world’s gone mad.”
‘I never felt I was going to get cancelled. Granada Television were fantastic. And the Monday after they found out, and knew the facts of the case and knew it was rubbish, they told me not to worry.’
He also addressed the incident live on GMB in 2024, admitting: ‘I know from my own experience that it’s very easy to forget to pay for stuff.’
Richard added: ‘And woah, just a minute a store detective, would you really accept a store detective putting you in cuffs? I mean, you would say, “Woah, hold on! I’ve just made an honest mistake, let me explain.” There’s a lot to go out there.’
But viewers were not sympathetic as he spoke about tackling thieves. One wrote online: ‘Why did Richard shoplift when he had enough money to buy it?’ Another added: ‘Richard, what was your reason? And you’re worth millions?’
A third said: ‘Wasn’t Richard caught shoplifting? Why isn’t anybody asking him why he did it?’
Others pointed out the irony of him leading the debate. One commented: ‘No irony at all in Richard Madeley discussing shoplifting again with the police commissioner. Picture of a bottle of champagne in the background.’
Many watchers were left unimpressed, accusing Richard of hypocrisy given his own past brush with the law
Another mocked his claim that his arm splint prevented him from intervening, writing: ‘So having your arm in a sling prevented you from going “Bruce Lee” on the guy’s ass Richard? Of course it did.’
Another said: ‘What an absolute hypocrite Richard Madeley is talking about kicking a shoplifter’s legs out from under them, I wonder if he would have liked that being done to him when he was caught shoplifting.’
One viewer wrote: ‘Jesus Richard Madeley is embarrassing. “I would have tackled a shoplifter but my arm was in a splint but I would have kicked the shoplifter’s legs away and sat on him.”
‘I mean seriously, why is he talking absolute s***. Let’s get real … he wouldn’t have done a thing.’
Some also expressed frustration that Keeley’s message about tackling addiction as a root cause of crime was overshadowed by Richard’s focus on physical intervention.
One wrote: ‘Keeley was trying to get over a really important message about treating the cause of why people are shoplifting and nobody wanted to listen to her, Richard only wanted to know how to rugby tackle them legally!’
Despite his insistence that his own arrest was the result of absent-mindedness, Richard Madeley’s willingness to lecture on the subject has reignited criticism.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV1 from 6am and is available to stream on ITVX.
