Hartlepool shoplifter stole hundreds of pounds of clothes from Primark and Next stores
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Leigh Hunter, 32, was arrested on January 8 this year after she and two others were caught on CCTV helping themselves to items valued £542 from the popular clothes shop.
That day she was due in the magistrates’ court for breaching a court community order by carrying out other shop thefts.
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Hide AdOn July 18 and 19 last year, Hunter stole around £150 of coffee and chocolate from Morrisons in Hartlepool.


In September, she was guilty of shoplifting from a Spar shop and in October while on bail she pinched clothes priced £65 from Next on the Anchor Retail Park.
Teesside Crown Court heard of all the thefts were caught on CCTV and Hunter was often with others.
Then, in November, Hunter stole a speaker from a car in Hartlepool.
She pleaded guilty to all offences.
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Hide AdJordan Parkinson, mitigating, said Hunter had been stuck wanted to get out of a “constant cycle” of offending linked to homelessness, drug issues and domestic violence.
Ms Parkinson said: “She really, really wants to work with probation.”
Sentencing Hunter, of Cornwall Street, Hartlepool, to four months in prison, Judge Jonathan Carroll said: “Shoplifting is rampant in Teesside and causing significant harm”.
He added: “The offences, taken together, are so serious only custody can be justified.”
He said Hunter’s time in jail on remand had been the most stability she had had for a while, and believed it should continue to help her prepare to safely re-enter society.