Reading Magistrates' Court: Jail for Calcot sex toys thief

A WOMAN has been jailed for stealing a parcel of sex toys.

The 50-year-old had previously shoplifted goods worth more than £1,500 from Waitrose in the Kingsland Centre, Thatcham.

But it was the theft of the adult toys while still subject to a suspended prison sentence that sealed her fate.

In the dock at Reading Magistrates' Court on Monday, June 20, was Tracy Jones of Burbridge Close, Calcot.

Harriet Dixon, prosecuting, said the male victim called police to report that a package he had ordered online had been delivered to his home but had been stolen before he could collect it.

CCTV footage showed Ms Jones stealing the package from his doorstep, concealing it beneath her coat and cycling off.

Inside were items including a fishnet body stocking and sex aids, the court heard.

Police recognised Ms Jones from the CCTV footage but when they confronted her, she denied stealing the package.

She initially pleaded not guilty to stealing a parcel of sex toys worth £36.97 at Calcot on December 15 last year.

However, she changed her plea at Monday's hearing and admitted the offence.

The court heard she has 53 previous convictions, including nine offences of shoplifting goods together worth more than £1,500 from the Thatcham Waitrose store, for which she had been sentenced to 26 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.

The sex toys theft represented a breach of that suspended sentence order.

Jan Davies, defending, said: "A very bad heroin addiction is at the root of all her offending.

"That's what's going on here."

She pleaded with the court to spare her client from jail, adding: "She's terrified."

But district judge Mark Lew said the law required him to activate the suspended sentence unless it would be manifestly unjust to do so.

He added: "It would be offensive to common sense to say that.

"How could it be unjust?"

He told Ms Jones: "You've been committing offences of dishonesty for 20 years and have had previous suspended sentence orders.

"You have breached previous court orders such as conditional discharges."

Nevertheless, he said he would not activate the sentence in full because Ms Jones had committed no new offences since her arrest for the current theft.

Ms Jones was instead jailed for 12 weeks, half of which she will serve in prison and the remainder on licence in the community.

In addition, she was ordered to pay a statutory victim services surcharge of £154.