A MELKSHAM mother who went shoplifting while awaiting sentence for stealing a purse and mobile phone from a friend’s home has been given a suspended jail term.

Laura Dommett, of Lewisham, Close, went into a flat at a hostel and took the items while her victim was getting a painkiller.

While on bail awaiting her sentence, after being convicted following a trial, the 26-year-old went shoplifting to fund her drugs habit.

Dommett met a friend, Graham Loakes, 35, on March 19, after he had been out with Vicki Cass.

The three of them went to the Unity House hostel in Wood Lane, Chippenham, where Miss Cass went into her flat while the other two visited another friend upstairs.

Later in the evening, the pair decided to go drinking and went to Miss Cass’s flat to see if she wanted to join them.

She had gone to the reception area to get a paracetamol and, when she got back, found her purse and phone were missing.

The court heard that Loakes returned the phone later in the evening but the purse was never recovered.

Dommett and Loakes, of Millhand Villas, Trowbridge, both pleaded not guilty to burglary.

Loakes was acquitted by the jury, but Dommett was found guilty of the lesser charge of theft after being cleared of burglary.

Alex Daymond, defending, said his client wished for four other thefts, two committed since the conviction, to be taken into consideration.

She had experienced difficulties with drugs for a long time, he said, and had not received benefits since late July, which is what led to her stealing again.

He told the court her children were being cared for by her mother, but if she was not jailed she hoped to have them back.

He said she was tired of being an addict and wanted to get clean.

Judge Euan Ambrose imposed a six-month jail term, suspended for a year, and put her on a six-month drug rehabilitation order.

The judge also imposed a three-month 6pm to 6am curfew and told her to pay £61 in compensation.