A shoplifter has been jailed to give store workers a break from her offending.

Stacey McLaren, of Holme Park Court in Berry Brow, admitted the thefts from two Huddersfield stores.

The first occurred at Lidl in the town on July 15 when she fled the store with a bag filled with £48 worth of steak.

Then two days later the 36-year-old targeted the Co-op service station in Honley.

From there she stole six bottles of spirits worth £78, although a passer-by detained her as she left the shop.

McLaren then refused to cooperate with a drug test at Huddersfield Police Station following her arrest.

Kirklees Magistrates’ Court heard that she has a problem with class A drugs.

Her solicitor Bob Carr said: “She seems to be on a roundabout that she can’t get off.

“That roundabout will take her in and out of prison for longer and longer periods.

“Prison has no desired effect on her and can only protect the shopkeepers for a short time.

“The easiest thing in the world would be to send her back to prison but will that address the problem? I think not.”

However District Judge Michael Fanning still jailed McLaren for 10 weeks.

He told her: “It is a roundabout. Prison may not have an effect on you but it will interrupt your offending for a short period.

“This time when you are released you will have to make a go of it or else the roundabout continues.”