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A Kirkby woman's shoplifting spree came to an end when an accomplice fled with a bag containing goods she had stolen and left her to be arrested, a court heard.

The bag was dropped but Elise Bills was caught in WHSmith at Sutton’s King's Mill Hospital, on February 10, Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard.

Two days earlier she stole £25 of items from the same store with a man in a wheelchair.

Donna Fawcett, prosecuting, said Bills also swiped £95 of vodka, from Tesco Express in Blidworth, on January 1, and £60 of cleaning products and chocolate from Tesco Express, in Kirkby, on January 18.

The thefts put her in breach of two conditional discharges, also imposed for shoplifting, in August and November last year.

Bills, care of Abbey Road, Kirkby, admitted four thefts.

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Nichola Thorpe, mitigating, said Bills, who is homeless and living between different friends, stole to fund her drug habit and only receives £200 per month Universal Credit.

“She is in and out of a difficult relationship with her partner,” said Ms Thorpe. “She does allow herself to be talked into thefts with other people.

“Her record speaks for itself – there are a large number of shop thefts.”

Ms Thorpe said Bills, now aged 38, started taking drugs when she was 16, but remained clean between 2005 and 2014 when a ‘one-off’ purchase triggered a relapse.

She was given a 12-month community order with a nine-month drug rehabilitation programme and 30 rehabilitation days. She was also ordered to pay £85 costs, a £114 surcharge and £25 compensation to WHSmith and £155 to Tesco.

Kirkby woman’s shoplifting spree ended with arrest at King’s Mill Hospital