A WOMAN who went on a stealing spree while on a suspended sentence for pinching an old woman’s pension money is now behind bars.

Natasha Hunt, who was given a chance last June when she said she was trying to tackle her drug addiction, has been sent to what her solicitor called ‘the public rehab’ – prison.

After the 30-year-old was caught plundering hundreds of pounds worth of perfume and other items seven times in two months, a judge said she had run out of chances.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that she was spared jail last summer for stealing cash and cigarettes from the home of an vulnerable elderly acquaintance.

But on November 6 she went shoplifting from the Co-op in Swindon and again the following day at the Highworth branch.

A week later she was back in Marlborough stealing from Waitrose, 10 days later from Co-op in Aldbourne and then from Boots in Swindon on December 2.

She admitted to police that she and a man had been stealing food, alcohol, and scent from the stores for themselves and to sell to buy drugs.

Hunt appeared before magistrates on December 5 and they granted her bail to stay out of shops apart from a branch of Tesco and the chemist where she gets her methadone.

But on New Years Ever she stole £288 of perfume from Boots in Swindon and returned on January 8 to take another £118 worth.

Hunt, of Hatherleigh Court, Park North, admitted five counts of theft, asking for two more to be taken into consideration, and being in breach of a suspended sentence.

That had been imposed after she went to the home of a woman, who has learning difficulties and is in her sixties, and stole her £200 pension money.

Mike Jeary, defending, said time on remand had helped her with her addiction.

He said: “She has gone to what I can only say is the public rehab, which is prison.

“She has managed to put on half a stone in weight and her eyes are bright and focussed. An entirely different person.

“I said to her you know when you are finally released, be it today or in a few months, the first person who comes to welcome you to Swindon will be the person who got you here and they will have a little brown bag and say ‘This will sort your life out’, She knows that.”

Jailing her for 10 months, Judge Peter Blair QC said: “The suspended sentence you were given in June was designed, I have no doubt, to give you the opportunity of not going to prison for stealing from somebody’s house but to give you 12 months supervision and assistance by the probation service.

“In the pre-sentence report that they have prepared for me today they make it plain that your current offender manager has informed me that ‘Miss Hunt continued to display limited engagement with her current order prior to being sent to custody’.

“The time has run out for the court to give you further opportunities and chances.

“The short prison sentence I will pass on you will give you the opportunity to leave in the near future with the possibility of you emerging in a way that you are better able to address your problems.

“It will mean that you come out with no prison sentence hanging over your head, albeit if you reoffend during the unserved part of the licence.

“Things are going to get worse and worse if you don’t address this. There are people that can help you address this without committing further offences, as you know.”