Woman who stole from Selby chemist jailed (From York Press)
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Woman who stole from Selby chemist jailed
8:51am Saturday 14th July 2012 in News
A HEROIN addict has been jailed after she stole fake tan from a Selby shop to sell and feed her habit.
Nichola Louise Jones, of Carentan Close, was seen on CCTV stealing two bottles of St Tropez Self Tan, worth about £64, from Boots in Gowthorpe on June 12.
Prosecuting, Steven Ovenden told Selby Magistrates’ Court that when she was arrested and interviewed by police, Jones admitted the theft, and said she sold the bottles for £10 each in order to fund her heroin addiction, but was sorry for the offence.
Jones appeared alongside Natalie Michelle Ingerson, who pleaded guilty to stealing eight bottles of the same product, valued at a total of £256, from the same store on the same day.
The court heard Ingerson, 26, of Jesse Close, was experiencing financial difficulty since the birth of her baby ten months ago, and had sold the items for £100, which she used to pay a utility bill, and buy food and other items for her child. When interviewed, Ingerson told police: “I’ve got to graft because I was skint.” Phil Brown, mitigating for Jones, told the court his client had attempted to remove herself from an environment where she would be tempted to take heroin, and had spent three weeks on a detox programme in Bradford.
However, when she returned to Selby the court heard: “She has very much had to fall back on known associates. Her address is frequented by a number of individuals who have problems with heroin, and this offence has been committed because she has been reintroduced to heroin.”
For Ingerson, Keith Haggarty said his client had suffered post-natal depression, and struggled with her finances to the point she “had to take a loan out over Christmas just to buy food, and struggled through the first half of the year without offending”.
Sentencing Jones to 42 days in prison, magistrate Tony Hargreaves said: “You have failed to respond to non-custodial sentences, persisted to offend with thft from shops, and this latest one was pre-planned.”
Ingerson was given a conditional discharge, and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85.
