Kirkby shoplifter hopes to kick drug addiction and see her children again

Kelly Bailey admitted seven thefts from Tesco, McColl’s and Aldi, between January 9 and 20, when she took £280 of chocolate, booze, fabric conditioner and air fresheners, Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard.

Nicole Baugham, prosecuting, said Bailey had previous convictions for 27 offences and was last in court for shoplifting last October.

Nichola Thorpe, mitigating, said she deserved full credit for her early guilty pleas and all the thefts relate to her drug use.

Ms Thorpe said: “She tells me she initally got involed with drugs through a previous partner and this resulted into her children going into care," she said.

"She struggles with her mental health and is on medication for anxiety and depression.

"Now the children are older she hopes they will make contact and she wants to be in a position where she is drug free and is a changed person.

"She is now aged 35. At the time she was living in a shared house where there was a lot of drug use. She now lives away from that environment with her partner.”

She said Bailey was handed a drug rehabilitaton requirement in 2018, but did not have the motivation to change that she has now.

Ms Thorpe said: “She knows there is a risk of custody because of her record, but a number of the goods were recovered.”

Bailey, of Pinewood Close, Kirkby, was handed a three-month curfew, with a six-month drug rehabilitation requirement and 10 rehabilitation days, and was ordered to pay compensation.