A WOMAN was lucky to escape jail after stealing from a supermarket to top up her benefits
Denise Thomas admitted stealing hundreds of pounds worth of groceries from Asda in Brackenhall on March 13.
She also pleaded guilty to damaging a door at the supermarket.
Carole Lawford, prosecuting, told Huddersfield magistrates that at 7pm Thomas was seen entering the store with a trolley.
She had two bags inside the trolley, a black bin bag and a shopping bag.
Thomas, 54, paid for some of the items at the checkout but left the Bradford Road store with £222 worth of goods which she didn’t buy.
She was detained by staff and taken to a holding room.
Ms Lawford said that there she pulled at the door and the hinge fell out, causing some damage as the door came away from the wall.
The offences put Thomas, of Riddings Rise in Sheepridge, in breach of an earlier conditional discharge for theft.
Sonia Kidd, defending, said the amount of cash Thomas had been receiving in benefits had recently been cut from £220 per fortnight to £80.
Thomas cannot work because of a long-standing illness.
Magistrates gave Thomas a electronically monitored curfew for eight weeks, which they said was a direct alternative to custody.
