STRUGGLING to make ends meet after their benefits were stopped a pair attempted to steal more than £200 in DIY products from Homebase.

28-year-old Kerry Duggan of Beaulieu Close pleaded guilty to a joint-charge of stealing the products valued at £270.24 from the store at the Greenbridge retail park on Sunday along with Ashley Lane, 29, of Rippon Way in Park South.

Lane was further charged with stealing £243.50 of vodka from West Swindon on April 4 when he was also found in possession of a class a drug concealed in a Kinder Egg and a separate charge of stealing bottles of spirit from the same store valued at £250 on March 25. He pleaded guilty to all of the charges brought against him.

When the pair came before magistrates together sitting in Swindon on Tuesday morning the court heard that the couple had been clocked by staff at Homebase on Sunday as they were known for previous shoplifting offences. Keith Ballinger, prosecuting, told the magistrates that when the staff approached them they found they had an Asda bag for life with them which was bulky. The pair attempted to leave the store without paying.

But Lane found himself caught by security and was struggled to the ground. While this was going on Duggan returned into the store and returned the Asda bag along with a JD Sports bag which also contained goods from the store. She was later arrested by police after being identified from CCTV.

Mr Ballinger further outlined that Lane’s previous shoplifting offences had involved him stealing alcohol from Asda in West Swindon. On the first occasion he was not detained, but when he returned again and attempted to make off with more spirits he was arrested and found to also have a quantity of crack cocaine concealed in a Kinder Egg in his jeans pocket.

The court also heard that Duggan had 29 previous offences on her record, and was currently on a suspended sentence from the crown court for a burglary offence which had been imposed on March 11 of this year.

Defending Duggan, Emma Thacker explained that while her client had been remanded in custody during the crown court proceedings her benefits had been stopped. “When released people have the opportunity to make a rapid claim. That still leaves people – as I hear on a regular basis – without funds for four weeks. She is applying for benefits but unfortunately still hasn’t received any benefits to date.

“When a person is released from custody it is very difficult for them to survive. She has accommodation, but no essentials like food. She tells me she has been trying to borrow money from her family but she doesn’t want to impose.”

Emma Hanslip, defending Lane, told the magistrates that in previous cases he would have asked to go to jail, but he was now turning his life around and was dealing with his drug addiction.

After retiring to consider their verdict, chairman of the bench Paul Morris told Duggan that they would not be sentencing her in the magistrates’ court as the offence put her in breach of her crown court suspended sentence.

Instead she was remanded in custody until she can be sentenced in the crown court.

Lane was released on conditional bail while a presentence report was prepared on him until he next appears in court on May 3. In the meantime he is banned from entering any retail premises other than the Co-operative in Cavendish Square.