A woman grabbed coats worth hundreds of pounds from a Next store and fled with them, a court heard.

Louise Hillas, 40, targeted the Birstall Retail Park shop in a bid to fund her class A drugs addiction.

Kirklees magistrates heard that her problem is so severe that she faces having her leg amputated.

The Huddersfield court was told that she entered the women’s clothing department at just before 7pm on December 9.

She picked up various coats, placed them over her arm and fled the store before police arrived.

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The coats, worth over £400, have not been recovered.

Hillas said she was off her head on drugs and unable to recollect the incident.

Magistrates heard that Hillas, now living in hostel accommodation in the Bradford area, had a long history of offending to fund her drug use.

She was jailed for a year last February and left prison with little support, no home and fell into associating with the wrong crowd again and taking drugs.

Magistrates were told that Hillas faces the possibility of having leg amputated at her thigh.

This is because she has severed a main artery in her leg through injecting drugs into it.

Magistrates asked probation staff for a report before sentencing Hillas.