A REPEAT offender found herself back before Haverfordwest Magistrates Court this Tuesday (Dec 31).
Celia Parsley, aged 45, of London Road, Pembroke Dock, pleaded guilty to a single offence of shoplifting from Tesco in Haverfordwest, on December 14.
The Court heard Parsley had a significant history of offending.
The prosecutor, Ms Sian Vaughan told Magistrates that Parsley’s recent appearances included the imposition of a community order for shoplifting imposed on Oct 15.
Appearing for the Defence, Mr Jonathan Webb told the Court that the CPS file was not up to date, as his client had last appeared before the Court on December 10, when the community order imposed in October had been revoked and replaced with a new order of increased length.
On that occasion, Magistrates warned Parsley that any further offending would most likely result in a sentence of imprisonment.
Ms Vaughan told the Court that Parsley was spotted shoplifting on security cameras and because she had not removed security tags on the items she stole, set off the alarm when she tried to leave the store.
She told security staff she thought the goods had been paid for by her companion but subsequently accepted this was not the case.
Mitigating, Mr Webb outlined his client’s history of emotional and mental health, issues alongside her current attendance on a thinking skills programme. To date, he said, she had attended all appointments scheduled under the course.
Up until 2019, Jonathan Webb told the Court, the Defendant had not appeared before a Court since 2005. He suggested a relapse into drug use was responsible for the spate of offending and said this was scarcely a sophisticated offence and no goods were lost by Tesco.
Mr Webb explained that his client was receiving counselling for her drugs use. He urged Magistrates not to impose an immediate sentence of imprisonment. He added that his client was trying to move out of the area to get a fresh start.
The Bench decided to revoke the community order from December 10. In its place, Magistrates imposed a sentence of twenty weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months.
As a requirement of the sentence’s suspension, Magistrates ordered Parsley to attend probation for twenty rehabilitation days and that she continued on other programmes, including a thinking skills programme.
Magistrates also imposed a £122 victim surcharge and £85 costs. The fines were consolidated with other financial penalties already imposed and outstanding.
