A PROLIFIC shoplifter who has moved to Carlisle from west Cumbria has been jailed after a spate of stealing - including the theft of charity box cash.

A district judge told 35-year-old Kimberley Bennewith that her failure to cooperate with probation staff meant that she could not avoid jail for her three most recent crimes – involving the charity money theft at a Carlisle store.

The defendant admitted three thefts.

Those crimes will now be added to the 158 previous ones – including 111 other thefts – which are already on the defendant's criminal record, Carlisle’s Rickergate court heard.

Prosecutor George Shelley outlined the facts.

Bennewith first stole money from charity boxes at the Matalan store in Carlisle on March 5. CCTV cameras showed her emptying two charity boxes in the store.

Store bosses estimated that the amount stolen was about £20.

The defendant next offended on March 10, stealing booze worth £77 from a local Asda store. On April 2, she stole again, this time taking four bottles of vodka from the B&M store at St Nicholas Gate, Carlisle.

A Probation Service worker in court said a community order imposed on the defendant for two previous thefts was now considered “unworkable” because of her non-compliance.

She was also still living between west Cumbria – having previously had a Maryport address – and Carlisle, though she now has accommodation at South Henry Street.

Anthony Wilson, defending, told District Judge John Temperley: “You can see from her record that she has addiction problems and that led to the theft of the alcohol, which she was going to consume.”

That in turn had stemmed from a family issue the defendant was going through, said Mr Wilson. The lawyer urged the District Judge to give Bennewith a community order rather than sending the defendant back to prison.

District Judge Temperley he may have considered Mr Wilson’s request to draw back from a jail term if Bennewith had made “some effort” to comply with her community order.

Referring to her previous order, the judge said: “I would have thought you’d grasp at that with both hands but it does appear that you have not, so I am afraid it will be custody today.”

He imposed a total of 12 weeks jail, pointing out: “One offence was particularly mean – the theft of money from a charity. However desperate you are, taking money out of the hands of people who are also in desperate need is particularly mean, in my view.”

Bennewith previously lived at McCarron Close, Maryport.