'There was no-one to help': Woman who had knives spared jail as court hears of prison conditions
A woman has avoided prison for three knife offences after her solicitor told magistrates that jail is not a place for people with mental health problems.
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Knife offences normally attract automatic six-month custodial sentences and Cloe Turner had pleaded guilty to carrying bladed articles in Craven Arms on April 25, May 24 and June 4.
Stephen Scully, mitigating, told Telford Magistrates Court on Wednesday that his client had some "deep-seated issues".
On each occasion Turner had herself phoned the police to tell them where she was and had never posed a threat to the public.
On April 25 she had been at Craven Arms Railway Station with a kitchen knife, and on May 24 she was at Craven Arms Community Centre with a 8.5cm bladed kitchen knife.
"She was remanded in custody from June 4 to June 20 and describes being locked in a cell for 24 hours a day," said Mr Scully.
"She could hear people screaming and shouting with mental health issues and there was no-one to help them.
"It is a sad reflection of where we are."
