Thief stored up trouble

3:52pm Friday 16th May 2008

THE morning after the night before, a shoplifter returned to the store she had pilfered to pay for her loot.

Drunken Jade Havercroft, 24, helped a youth steal £5.55 of lager from Spa's Clifton branch on April 24, York magistrates heard.

"The next day, she went back, having sobered up and realised what she had done, and tried to pay for the goods. There is considerable remorse," said her solicitor Craig Robertson.

But it was too late, York magistrates heard, and police were called.

Havercroft, of Crombie Avenue, Clifton, pleaded guilty to theft. At the time, she was on a community order which had been imposed in March.

Magistrates revoked the order and made a new community order with six months' supervision and ordered her to pay £5.55 compensation to the shop. She was not ordered to pay prosecution costs because she already owes the court £1,150 in fines, costs and compensation orders as a result of earlier crimes.

Prosecutor Gill Sandall said Havercroft and the youth went to the store at 7pm on Thursday April 24. She picked up a pack of Stella Artois lager and put it in a bag that the youth was carrying. Both then left the store without attempting to pay for the alcohol.

The next day, both went back to the store and attempted to pay. But the manager refused and called police.

"Both are well-known within the store," said Ms Sandall.

Mr Robertson said that Havercroft was a single mother and the youth she was with had a bigger criminal record than she did.

He had persuaded her to go into the store when she was heavily in drink. The next morning she woke up sober and realised what she had done.

"She has desperately tried to avoid getting into trouble since the imposition of the order," said Mr Robertson of the March sentence, adding that she was complying with it.

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