Addict celebrated birthday by robbing her 'friend' in Wakefield to buy drugs

Addict Kirsty Goodall had been "looking after" the vulnerable friend but Leeds Crown Court was told she abused her hospitality, taking money off her to feed her £25-a-day heroin habit.

On June 15 last year - Goodall's 32nd birthday - she demanded the woman give her cash, but she refused.

Goodall then shoved her up against the fridge and gouged her eye, demanding she hand over her bank card. Frightened, the woman did, and Goodall locked the woman in the house in Wakefield and visited an ATM where she withdrew £200.

Goodall, of Arncliffe Road, Wakefield, later admitted a charge of robbery and fraud. She was already subject to community order from 2021 for driving while banned.

Mitigating, Stephen Littlewood said that Goodall had endured a traumatic life, had lost a child and had another adopted. It was heard that she was also responding well to treatment while in custody, and her methadone prescription had been reduced.

But Judge Andrew Stubbs KC said further treatment behind bars was required, and jailed her for 40 months.

He said: “I have little confidence that if you were released you would be able to maintain your progress in your long-standing addiction.

"What makes this case so serious is that you targeted a vulnerable person. You were looking after her, and it was in her own home. You also have previous convictions that make the situation worse.”