Porthleven former drug addict stole meat
2:00pm Thursday 11th October 2012 in News
Stealing two legs of lamb from a Penzance supermarket landed a former Porthleven drug addict in court last week.
Alexandra Amy Hodges, of Matela Close, pleaded guilty at Truro Magistrates’ Court to stealing £34.05 worth of meat from the Penzance branch of Tesco on September 17.
The 40-year-old was spotted by an off-duty security officer stuffing the legs of lamb into her shoulder bag, prosecutor Gail Hawkley said.
She had hidden the lamb under bags of frozen vegetables while it was in her basket in an attempt to conceal her planned theft Mrs Hawkley said.
Jeremy Leaning, for the defence, said Hodges had “kept herself out of trouble” for the best part of a decade before committing a “spate of offences” between 2010 and 2011.
“That was a difficult time for Miss Hodges and those offences reflected substance difficulties, which eventually led to two short terms of imprisonment,” he said.
The most recent theft saw her revert to past behaviour in an attempt to make ends meet, as she had fallen behind on the rent and run up debts, Mr Leaning said. Chair of the magistrates, Gordon Ball, said they had taken Hodges early guilty plea into account and her sentence reflects that fact.
She was made subject to a 12 month community order with 60 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay costs of £85.
