A Manchester shop thief has avoided a stint behind bars, despite stealing thousands of pounds worth of goods whilst subject to a suspended sentence order for like offences.
Lauren Andrews, 34, of Newton Heath, Manchester, admitted two charges of theft when she appeared at Manchester Magistrates' Court.
The thefts occurred earlier this year when Andrews targeted high-end stores in the city's Intu Trafford Centre with an unknown male accomplice.
Prosecutor Martha Dowd said: "The victim in June is Victoria's Secret store in Trafford Centre on June 7 at 2.30pm, she entered along with another male and stole around £822-worth of stock comprised of several perfumes, leggings and t-shirts.
"At 7.30pm she re-entered the store and stole more goods to the value of £177.
"On March 8, she entered Abercrombie and Fitch store in Trafford Centre and took 20 fragrances worth £2,360.
"No attempts were made to pay, the defendant went unnoticed and they were not recovered."
Andrews is a habitual shop thief. Last Christmas she stole £8,000 of designer clothing from The White Company and a £1,480 bag from Burberry.
She was convicted of those offences in May and sentenced to 18 weeks' custody, suspended for 12 months.
Less than a month later she was out thieving again in Victoria's Secret.
A report by the National Probation Service noted that Andrews accepted responsibility for her offending, which she claimed was the result of coercion by her former partner. It added that Andrews was taking positive steps to address her substance misuse and was about to make a fresh start by moving into new accommodation.
Karl Benson, mitigating, said: "She is a potential success story for a problem-solving programme, but if she goes to custody today, she will lose the new house that she is due to move into.
"It would be unjust in the public interest and undo all the positives. A community order is exceptional on this occasion - there is clear progress."
Magistrates agreed and decided against activating Andrews' suspended sentence.
She was sentenced to 20 weeks' custody, suspended for 12 months.
She was also ordered to pay compensation of £1,180 to Abercrombie and Fitch and £500 to Victoria's Secret.
Notwithstanding the fact that we do not know the full circumstances of this case, I do find the decision not to activate Andrews' suspended sentence a strange one indeed.
The Bench imposing the first suspended sentence order in May clearly thought that the offences sentenced on that occasion were so serious that an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate, but compelling factors meant the sentence should be suspended. Andrews would have received the standard spiel that any breach of the suspended sentence order would almost certainly result in the activation of the sentence.
She goes on to commit a like offence only a month later (the Victoria's Secret theft; the Abercrombie and Fitch theft pre-dates the sentence imposed in May), which the Bench has again decided was so serious that only a custodial sentence was appropriate, yet she has presumably offered an alternative compelling reason why that sentence should also be suspended.
Readers could be forgiven for thinking that Andrews is saying just the right things to play the system.
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