A TEENAGE mum who admitted kicking a man on the ground in an attempted robbery has been jailed.

Milena O’Connell, of Cassini Drive, Oakhurst, was told if she could stay off drugs and keep out of trouble for four months she would not be sent to prison.

But the 19-year-old was twice caught shoplifting in the weeks following her appearance before the judge.

Now Judge Douglas Field, sitting at Swindon Crown Court, said she had had her last chance and told her: “It is my public duty to impose a custodial sentence.”

O’Connell was put on a deferred sentence in December after the court heard how she joined her boyfriend in the late night attack.

The young mum was with Daniel Dent, of The Holbeins, Grange Park, when they launched the attack on July 3 last year.

Their victim had been drinking in the town centre when the couple approached him and asked if he could give them some money for a taxi.

He said he would share a cab with them and then offered to call a taxi but when he got his mobile out Dent said he would dial, and took the handset from him.

The victim, who was separated from his friends, followed the couple asking for his phone back as they got to the Wyvern car park.

He started to get angry and demanded his phone back when Dent turned in one quick motion and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.

The couple then both rained kicks to his prone body and head and money was demanded from him.

In late January O’Connell was caught stealing perfume from a town centre shop and, a few days later, computer games from Comet. The court heard she also stole from a clothes shop in September last year.

O’Connell pleaded guilty to one charge of assault with intent to rob and three counts of theft.

The court heard that she had a lengthy history of offending, including assaulting a police officer and 18 counts of theft.

Rob Ross, defending, urged the court not to jail her but to give her another chance saying she was a soul worth saving.

But the judge said it was his duty to jail her and imposed an 18-month custodial sentence.

“When you appeared in front of me on December 3 last year, I think it was on the serious charge of assault with intent to rob. I gave you a chance,” he said.

“I deferred your sentence and imposed various conditions. You haven’t complied. Indeed, you have committed offences within that period.

“I am afraid the time has come where I feel it is my public duty to impose a custodial sentence.

“I have no doubt you will be offered assistance to help with your drug problems in custody.

“My advice is you take whatever help is offered to you.”

Dent was last year jailed for four years after admitting assault with intent to rob, theft and another robbery.