Bolton: 'One last chance' after woman's shoplifting offences

Lucille McKerrow, 27, had already been banned from going into various town centre shops as part of a criminal behaviour order handed down in April last year.

But Bolton Crown Court heard how she breached this order first by going into a since closed branch of Marks and Spencer on Deansgate on April 13 and then Boots on April 17 where she stole six items.

Emma Clarke, prosecuting, said: “As she left she said ‘sorry I’m an addict’ to a shop assistant before walking out of the store.”

McKerrow, who has 12 previous convictions for 65 offences, then stole £100 worth of clothes from Next on April 18 before going into TK Maxx, another shop she was banned from, on April 22.

The defendant shoplifted from Boots alongside other stores (Image: Google Maps)

She was then arrested on April 24 and after saying she did not want a solicitor admitted to her offences before pleading guilty to four counts of breaching a criminal behaviour order and three counts of shoplifting when brought before the magistrates court.

She had been given the order after having previously shoplifted from a branch of Home Bargains in Breightmet.

Paul Becker, defending, argued that McKerrow, who appeared via video link from prison, was entitled to credit for having pleaded guilty and that she was prepared to seek help.

He said: “She is desperate to be released to turn her life around, to get help.”

He added: “That might just help her, once and for all, to turn her life around.”

Mr Becker told the court how McKerrow, now of no fixed address, had suffered from profound problems in the past but that she wanted to help other women in similar predicaments.

He said: “She knows that if she is given a chance today, it is the final straw.”

Recorder Alexandra Simmonds accepted that McKerrow had a long list of offences behind her and that she had “been given opportunities in the past.”

She said: “For so many offences, with such a history, you might well expect a custodial sentence today.”

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But Recorder Simmonds agreed to give her “one last opportunity.”

She give McKerrow an 18 month community order with a 12 month drug rehabilitation requirement and ordered her to complete 40 hours of unpaid work with 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

The defendant was also ordered to complete a women’s problem-solving course.

Recorder Simmonds said: “This is a difficult order, and you are going to have to commit to it.”