A former criminology lecturer who described herself as “the UK’s poshest thief” has avoided jail again, after stealing almost £12,000 worth of prosecco, wine, vodka and gin.
Pauline Al Said, 35, gained public notoriety after being convicted in 2024 of stealing more than £1,000 worth of Le Creuset cookware, premium steaks, wine and gin.
Al Said and her then husband Mark Wheatcroft, 56, were fined £2,500 between them last year for daylight raids on a garden centre and a branch of Marks & Spencer.
Judge Keith Cutler imposed a financial penalty after concluding that Al Said, from Southampton, Hampshire, would not comply with community service.
Since being convicted in 2024, the former senior criminology lecturer at Bath Spa University has called herself the “UK’s poshest thief” in her biography on X.
Al Said has now been convicted of stealing £11,964 worth of “expensive vodka, gin, prosecco and wine” during a nine-month shoplifting spree carried out to fund a drug addiction.
The court heard that Al Said had left the “toxic relationship” with her husband at the end of last year
ANDREW CROFT/SOLEN
Southampton crown court was told she concealed expensive bottles of alcohol in her trolley by placing “Disney dresses and dressing gowns” on top of them.
She has been given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and will have to repay Sainsbury’s £1,800, just over 15 per cent of what she stole. She was also banned from entering the supermarket for 18 months.
The court heard Al Said, who is originally from Poland and moved to Southampton in 2007, was funding a “drug addiction” and recently left the “toxic relationship” with her husband at the end of last year.
In recent months she has changed her professional name to Pauline Tusien and launched a website in which she offers “life and career mentoring”.
“If your life looks great on paper but feels crap in real life, we need to talk,” she wrote on her site.
Al Said, who wrote that she moved to the UK aged 17, says she offers support on wellbeing and can “help people find clarity, when things feel complicated”.
Her latest shoplifting spree involved a “campaign against Sainsbury’s”. She went to the store on six occasions to steal bottles of alcohol and packets of meat, and in one instance even went to the store’s café afterwards to read a stolen newspaper.
Emily Jarrod, in mitigation, told the court: “She is a highly, highly educated woman and has worked in the criminal justice system, although you might say that’s worse because she should understand the impact her actions have.
“She has turned a corner and ended the relationship with Mr Wheatcroft in late 2025. She started work as a life coach and has been living with her mum. She has also regained contact with her sister who she didn’t talk to while in this darker period in her life.”
Judge Gary Lucie, sentencing Al Said, said: “You stole mostly alcohol and seemed to target Sainsbury’s. They were items which were easily sold to buy drugs. This was a campaign of high-value shoplifting over nine months. But you have shown what I consider to be genuine remorse.
“You are a highly intelligent woman and, as you have said, you could do a lot of good. I’m aware you have ended your toxic relationship. Considering the value of the theft, I find a period of 44 weeks custody to be justified, but suspended for 18 months.”
Al Said was instructed to attend 28 rehabilitation days.