A WOMAN stole toys worth hundreds of pounds because she was desperate to give her two daughters a proper Christmas.
Victoria Lee filled a trolley with dolls, toy horses and games at Toys R Us in Birstall two days before Christmas and tried to leave without paying.
Her solicitor told Kirklees Magistrates' Court she was broke but hadn’t wanted to disappoint her girls, aged two and eight.
Lee, 32, admitted the £600 theft.
Prosecutor Andy Wills described her attempt as “unsophisticated and not particularly well thought out”.
He told magistrates that Lee walked through the store, filled her trolley and walked past an unmanned till point.
She was stopped and police were called. She claimed her head was all over the place and she hadn’t been sleeping.
Lee, of Thorn Drive, Leeds, had no previous convictions but was cautioned in 2010 for shoplifting.
Jonathan Slawinski, mitigating, said: “The timing of the offence gives a clue as to why it was committed.
“She’s a single mum. The ex-partner provides no financial support. She’s on state benefits, it was coming up to Christmas and she was absolutely brassic.
“She made a blatant attempt to put them into the trolley and leave and it was a desperate, failed attempt.
“She’d applied for a loan from the social for Christmas but it was delayed.
“She was desperate not to let the children miss out.”
Lee was fined £40 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £30 victim surcharge.
