Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley has attracted accusations of hypocrisy following his comments during a debate about shoplifting intervention on Tuesday.
The 69-year-old television host faced criticism from viewers who highlighted his own 1994 arrest for allegedly failing to pay for items at a Tesco supermarket in Walkden, Greater Manchester.
During the programme discussion, Madeley expressed interest in physically intervening against shoplifters and shared his recent experience of witnessing someone stealing from Boots. He revealed he was “very tempted” to trip the thief despite having his arm in a splint at the time.
Madeley was acquitted of theft charges in his case, maintaining the incident resulted from absent-mindedness rather than deliberate wrongdoing.
The Tuesday morning debate centred on whether shoplifters should face harsher punishments, featuring Keeley Knowles, formerly Birmingham’s most prolific shoplifter.
Knowles advocated for rehabilitation over incarceration, telling 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.”
She explained that approximately 70 per cent of shop theft stems from addiction issues.
Knowles emphasised her success since beginning treatment, stating: “Since the day I started my programme, I haven’t committed any crime, taken drugs, nothing.”
However, Mr Madeley steered the conversation towards physical intervention, expressing concern about legal boundaries when ordinary citizens confront thieves.
He focused particularly on worries about being “accused of using unreasonable force” rather than addressing addiction treatment.
Viewers responded with sharp criticism to Madeley’s intervention comments, with many labelling him an “absolute hypocrite” for his stance.
Social media users mocked his claim that a splint prevented him from confronting the Boots shoplifter, with one 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 viewer questioned: “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.”
Critics described his comments as “delusional and embarrassing”, particularly his suggestion about tripping thieves despite his own legal history with similar allegations.
Others questioned Mr Madeley’s motivations for his past shoplifting incident, with one asking: “Why did Richard shoplift when he had enough money to buy it?”
Another added: “Richard, what was your reason? And you’re worth millions?”
Many viewers expressed frustration that Knowles’s important message about treating addiction as the root cause of crime was overshadowed by Madeley’s focus on physical confrontation.
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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!”
Critics highlighted the irony of Madeley leading the shoplifting discussion, with one commenting: “No irony at all in Richard Madeley discussing shoplifting again with the police commissioner.”
