Richard Wolsey, 47, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to six counts of theft from a shop at Swansea Magistrates’ Court on 11 May and was sentenced to eight months in prison.
Wolsey targeted supermarkets and convenience stores across Cadle, Portmead, Fforestfach, Penlan and the city centre — leaving with items worth as much as £657 in a single visit.
CCTV footage from one of the businesses, released by South Wales Police, captures the moment Wolsey walked out carrying an entire Cadbury’s display stand. The footage was shared by officers as part of a wider warning to shoplifters that persistent offenders will be identified, pursued and jailed.
PC Christian Thomas of South Wales Police said Wolsey had never shown any signs of attempting to change his ways. “Shop workers should not have to deal with petty thieves targeting their businesses,” he said. “But Richard Wolsey cares not a jot for those whose lives he makes harder with his shoplifting.”
He added: “We will relentlessly pursue anyone involved in shoplifting, especially those persistent offenders like Richard Wolsey, and they will be sent to prison.”
The shoplifting convictions are the latest chapter in a long and serious criminal history. In 2023, Wolsey appeared at Swansea Crown Court on far more serious charges — pointing a knife at his former partner’s neck on a park bench and threatening to slit her throat.
Prosecutor Hannah George told the court that Wolsey and the complainant had been in an on-off relationship for some 23 years, during which the defendant had been repeatedly violent towards her. The court heard that when Wolsey was released from prison following a 2021 assault conviction, the pair had rekindled their relationship with him promising to change — but by January the following year he had returned to his old ways.
The knife incident occurred in June 2022. Wolsey attended a garden area the couple used to frequent, found his former partner sitting on a bench reading a book, and grabbed her — pointing a Stanley-type knife at her neck and threatening to slit her throat. When she tried to flee, he punched her repeatedly to the back of the head.
At that sentencing, Wolsey was found to have 16 previous convictions for 32 offences including 11 for violence and two involving weapons. He had also breached a restraining order designed to protect his former partner on seven separate occasions since it was first imposed in 2015.
Judge Geraint Walters jailed him for two years for the knife offence and related charges, telling him the sentences would only get longer each time he broke the order. A new indefinite restraining order was imposed.
The latest sentence means Wolsey has now spent significant periods of his life in custody. He was of no fixed abode at the time of the shoplifting offences, and South Wales Police say he remains a priority target for enforcement action.
South Wales Police say shoplifting causes real harm to the people who run and work in small businesses — and that persistent offenders like Wolsey who show no intention of stopping will face the full consequences.
Anyone who recognises shoplifting activity in their local area can report it to South Wales Police on 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
