A WOMAN who went on a shoplifting spree in Flintshire has been handed a six-week suspended prison sentence.

Natasha Morris was told to pay £178.28 compensation to Superdrug and Iceland in Mold and the Spar store in Buckley after a spate of thefts between February 24 and March 14.

She also used a stolen credit card to buy cigarettes and scratch cards from Bargain Booze in Mold.

North East Wales Magistrates Court was told Morris led a “chaotic lifestyle” and her offending was linked to her need to fund her drug addiction.

District Judge Gerallt Jones told her: “There was a spree of offending on the same day.”

Morris, 33, of Maes Walwen, Bagillt stole a range of items including after shave and meat products.

She admitted five counts of theft and one of fraud by false representation.

Her brother, Damien Morris, has previously admitted two similar shoplifting charges, but has denied assaulting a security guard and is due for trial in Llandudno April 16.

A probation officer's report said Morris, who has 63 previous convictions, fully accepted responsibility for her offending and had been on a “binge” with her brother, also a long-standing drug user, at the time of the offences.

Guy Harvey, defending, told the Mold court: “She is at a point in her thirties where she needs to do something and she knows a suspended sentence if breached would see her go back to Styal.

“She wants to address her issues and realises it is time for a change.”

Morris’ sentence was suspended for a year and she was told to undergo a six-month drug rehab programme as well as complete 15 rehabilitation activity days.

Costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £115 were also slapped on her.