Kelly Walker, 33, who has more than 100 convictions, had already spent two weeks on remand on two theft charges when she appeared at South East Northumberland Magistrates' Court.

As a result she has lost her accommodation in Manchester Street, Morpeth, and her solicitor Denise Jackman asked magistrates to send her to prison where she could get help for her drug problem.

At an earlier appearance, Walker had pleaded guilty to two thefts, the first on September 25 when she tried to steal a woman's purse at a Newcastle cafe, before being caught by a retired police officer, and the second in Asda in Ashington on September 29, when she stole another purse, containing £119, from a shopping trolley.

The purse was later found dumpled in a bin at Morpeth Bus Station and Walker was identified from CCTV footage.

Mrs Jackman said that sentencing her client to supervision, as recommended in a pre-sentence report, would be "setting her up to fail".
She said Walker's offending has diminished in recent years and she tries to stay out of trouble, but relapses when things go wrong, such as having her two-year-old son taken into care and put up for adoption.

Mrs Jackman added:"She wants to remain within the prison system for a short time to get her methadone down as much as she can. The two weeks she's spent in custody have cost her her accommodation and she has nowhere to go.

"She is a very vulnerable person and can easily end up associating with the wrong people."

Walker was sentenced to four weeks for each theft, to run consecutively, less the time spent on remand.

She was ordered to pay £119 in compensation and was given another seven consecutive days in custody for non-payment of compensation and seven concurrent days for non-payment of fines.

The magistrates decided to leave two community orders and a conditional discharge to which Walker was already subject, in place.