Nursery worker thief told to prove herself, or risk going to jail

A nursery worker with a criminal past has been warned by a judge that she has two months to prove herself, or be sent to jail.
Leeds Crown Court.Leeds Crown Court.
Leeds Crown Court.

Leanne Caizley was caught stealing tins of paint from Sainsbury's on Wakefield's Trinity Walk, but was already on a suspended sentence for fraud, Leeds Crown Court was told.

The 35-year-old had been convicted of fraud a number of years ago when she took £56,000 in benefits she was not entitled to, and was given 32 weeks' jail, which was suspended, along with a community order with 100 hours of unpaid.

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However, prosecutor Emma Handley told the court this week that Caizley had continually failed to adhere to the community order, and had 39 unauthorised absences.

Then on June 13 last year, Caizley, of Pasture View Road, Rothwell, was caught trying to steal the four tins of paint from Sainsbury's.

Accompanied by her young child, she used the shop's 'Smartshop' scanner linked to her husband's Nectar account, scanning items before placing them in her trolley.

She scanned the paint, then placed them in the basket under her trolley.

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When she reached the self-service checkout, she asked staff to void all of the items and began scanning them in again herself, but failed to scan the paint.

She was stopped by security as she tried to leave. She claimed she had bought the paint from nearby Asda and had a receipt, but was shown CCTV footage from Sainsbury's.

She admitted a charge of theft which put her in breach of her existing suspended sentence.

A probation report confirmed she had also only completed 44 hours of her 100 hours of community service.

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Before her barrister presented her mitigation to the court, Judge Simon Batiste told he was planning to adjourn proceedings until May 17.

He said her compliance with her punishment from the fraud case had been "far from impressive", and over the next two months he expected her to have completed her unpaid work hours, and her rehabilitation activity days, or risk going to jail.

He told her: "I do not want to lock you up, but I will if necessary. I will give you one last chance."