A HEROIN addict with a leaking heart was trying to get herself on the straight and narrow, a Swindon court heard.

And magistrates gave Maria Gowland extra time to get back into the probation service’s good books, after missing a number of appointments.

Maria Gowland, 34, of Kennedy Drive, Eldene, pleaded guilty to stealing a man’s wallet and bank cards from a car parked on Compton Close and using it to buy goods worth £64.56 on July 31 last year.

Prosecutor Keith Ballinger said Gowland had been identified from CCTV footage from a Tesco store where she had used one of the stolen bank cards.

In mitigation, solicitor Jonathan Lewis said his client had been admitted to hospital on New Years’ Day, spending several weeks there.

Gowland suffered from a leaking heart valve, a serious condition as “the heart is one of the most important organs of the body”. She was still very ill and needed a follow-up scan.

His client’s illness explained why she had failed to turn up at probation service appointments in recent months, Mr Lewis said. And he said Gowland had lost her prescription - or script - for heroin substitute methadone when she missed picking up her daily dose from the pharmacy. She claimed she had visited the pharmacy, only to find they had run out of the medication.

Magistrates deferred sentencing her until May 13, giving her extra time to prove she was willing to engage with the authorities and tackle her drug problem. Chairman of the bench Jane Flew said: “We’re going to adjourn matters and the expectation is that you will have engaged with probation, you will have engaged with Turning Point and you will be back on your script."