Shoplifter with 67 convictions nabbed trying to steal booze
A PROLIFIC shoplifter was caught trying to steal more than £300 worth of alcohol from a Newcastle supermarket.
Lynn Wilson has received 67 convictions for 155 previous offences, but that didn’t stop her attempting to stealing 11 bottles of spirits from Asda in Byker on 27 April.
South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard the 56-year-old had tried to fool security staff by hiding the spirits inside bags of paid shopping.
But she was stopped before leaving the store and arrested.
Prosecutor Ian Martin said: “She’s gone to the self service and paid for a small amount of items and not the spirits.
“She was stopped by the stores security staff and police attended.
“She fully admitted the offence and the items were recovered.” Magistrates heard Wilson, of South Durham Court, Hendon, Sunderland, has a “significant record for shoplifting” and previously served 26 weeks in prison for attempted theft.
Mr Martin added: “In May of last year she was before this court for an offence of shoplifting and subject to a period of imprisonment.
“You will note her significant record is an aggravating feature.”
Defending, Gerry Armstrong, said Wilson has recently suffered a “very serious episode in terms of her health”.
He explained: “She suffered a stroke, a bleed on the brain and was admitted to hospital.
“She will need carers to deal with the stroke. She is physically unable and mentally unwell to be committing offences at the moment.
“She realises what she may have been dealing with before could be why she was committing the offences.”
Wilson pleaded guilty to the latest offence to add to her long list of convictions.
Chairman of the bench Cristopher Graham told Wilson: “You’re 56 years old, it has to stop. You have got a terrible record in front of us. It cannot go on.”
She received a six-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay costs of £85, and a £22 victim surcharge.
She’s gone to the self service and paid for a small amount of items and not the spirits.
Ian Martin