Jailed: Telford drug addict who stole pyjamas turned to heroin after partner's cancer diagnosis
A drug addict who decided to "shoplift and go and get heroin" after her partner got cancer has been jailed.
Samantha Baxter, aged 47, stole from several shops in Telford and Wrekin to feed her habit.
Kidderminster Magistrates Court was told she stole more than £200 worth of items from B&M Bargains in Newport on November 2 last year.
On January 9 this year she took £14 worth of stock from Home Bargains in Donnington. Two days later she stole £17 worth of items from the Co-op in Donnington.
She made a further theft of pyjamas from Home Bargains in Donnington this month.
Baxter, of Malcolm Davies Drive, Donnington, pleaded guilty to four counts of theft.
John McMillan, mitigating, told magistrates that Baxter's life had been "blighted by drugs", but more recently she had got her addiction more under control.
However, he said the stress of her partner having cancer caused her to "shoplift and go and get heroin".
"She was very, very addicted, but that has reduced," Mr McMillan said.
"She's upset that she's mucking things up and she's let her partner down."
He asked for magistrates to give Baxter credit for her early guilty plea.
Magistrates jailed her for 12 weeks.
