Last chance for addict to get life on track

A long-term drug addict has been given a final chance to get her life back on track after embarking on a catalogue of crime to fund her habit.

Sheriff Neil Bowie reluctantly granted 38-year-old Joanne Mayor her freedom to allow a Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO) assessment to be completed in the community.

The former public schoolgirl, who had been living with her boyfriend in Perth’s

Scott Street, had spent Christmas and New Year behind bars after going on a shoplifting spree after the DTTO report had initially been requested in November.

Despite noting that two previous orders had apparently been tried, without success, Sheriff Bowie told her:“I am willing to take a chance and allow you to be assessed.

“But if you go out from this court and are arrested for shoplifting, this opportunity will be taken away just as quickly as it has been offered.”

Social workers once feared she was“going to kill herself”because of drug abuse.

She was also branded a“burden on the state”because of her horrendous criminal record.

The accused, formerly of Turretbank Road, Crieff, admitted stealing more than £1100 worth of goods, including a heart rate monitor and laptop, from a medical centre in Perth’s Scott Street, along with a raft of shoplifting offences from local stores.

She was freed on bail while the drug treatment order assessment was carried out.

But she was back in court just over a week later and pled guilty to a further series of thefts from local shops.

Her litany of shoplifting included stealing aftershave from Superdrug, helping herself to alcohol from Gringo’s Restaurant and Sainsbury’s, and perfume and lipstick from Savers, all in Perth, between June and November last year.

She was remanded after it emerged she was subject to three bail orders at the time.

She also behaved aggressively to her partner William Taylor in his flat last October after catching him“actively in bed with another woman.”

She became involved in a screaming match, heard by local neighbours, before throwing household items around the flat, breaking them.

The court heard that drugs had been a “significant issue”for her for some time but, during the coronavirus lockdown, alcohol had become another problem.

Her solicitor pointed out this week that a 2013 DTTO had been“breached technically” after she was jailed and could not continue with the order.

He added:“Her life has completely changed since 2013.

“She feels that this is essentially her last chance to try and turn her life around.”

The lawyer pointed out that she had received“considerable support from her mother for a very long time,” but her needs had now been assessed as“maximum.”

“If she doesn’t get the support she needs, she will continue to offend,”he added.

The relationship with her partner had done her“absolutely no good at all”and she would not be returning to Scott Street.

“If freed from court today, she will register herself as homeless,”added the lawyer.

Mayor, who is currently on a methadone programme, will discover her fate when she returns to court for sentence on February 17.

She was released on bail meantime.