A YOUNG crime victim is to get his money back from the drug addict who snatched it from his hands.

The 11-year-old boy was about to buy his mother a birthday present when Julie Greenwood, 22, grabbed £40 from his wallet, magistrates heard.

Although the thief managed to outwit an eye-witness who chased her and made good her escape, she was later arrested, the court was told.

York magistrates ordered her to pay £40 compensation to the boy and put her on a drug testing and treatment order for 12 months.

Greenwood, of Tennant Road, Acomb, York, admitted stealing £40 from the boy on January 5, breaching a community rehabilitation order, three failures to attend court, stealing two dolls worth just under £70 from Fenwicks on October 24, and stealing seven cans of deodorant from Superdrug on February 25.

At an earlier hearing, prosecutor Angela Smith said the boy had saved his Christmas money to buy the birthday present and he was checking how much he had in his wallet outside Halifax's city centre branch when Greenwood struck.

His statement to detectives concluded: "It's my mother's birthday today and I am upset I haven't been able to buy her a present," York magistrates heard.

Urging magistrates to put her on the drug order, solicitor Craig Sutcliffe said it could stop her offending. She was an addict who had continued to take heroin during a recent pregnancy.

She had withdrawn from heroin while in prison on remand and needed support to stop her relapsing. She had also been separated from her partner who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for house burglaries.

The boy's mother told the Evening Press her son was "devastated" by the theft. He had gathered together his Christmas cash and pocket money for a shopping trip to York city centre, and was looking through the wallet to count how much he had when Greenwood pounced.

The incident, she said, had reduced him to tears.

A "Good Samaritan" tried to confront Greenwood, although was unable to prevent her from getting away.

Updated: 10:57 Friday, March 22, 2002