Heroin addict with almost 200 convictions is sentenced for shoplifting in stores including Sainsbury's

Kelly McKee (31), with an address listed as Main Street in Ahoghill, took alcohol and a jacket with a combined value of £360 from Sainsbury's on January 29 this year and food worth £30 from Centra in Ballymena on February 4 this year.

A defence solicitor told Ballymena Magistrates' Court on April 13 the defendant had been in "very poor health" recently.

He said the defendant is a heroin addict and he was "shocked by her appearance".

The lawyer said the defendant was due back at the same court on April 20 in relation to further theft charges which she admits.

He said McKee is originally from Larne and was "brought up in a very chaotic family background".

The solicitor said her parents and siblings have "extensive criminal records".

He said McKee had 194 previous convictions and her record dated back to her "early teenage years".

The lawyer added: "Sadly, until she addresses her drugs problems she will always be in a difficult position."

Deputy District Judge Philip Mateer said the defendant was in breach of six suspended sentences which were a total of six months in prison.

He handed down a further three months sentence to make a total of nine months imprisonment for McKee.

The judge said it was "not an easy case" and he recognised "she is clearly not well" and "suffers from a life long addiction to Class A drugs".

Judge Mateer said the defendant would continue to offend "unless something is done with her life".

He added that until she addresses her addiction issues "the courts cannot simply wash their hands of her and send her out into society to continue stealing from other people in order to feed her drug habit".

The judge refused to release McKee on bail pending appeal.

A co-accused - Noleen Stott (35) with an address also given as Main Street in Ahoghill - admitted stealing alcohol and a jacket worth £360 from Sainsbury's on January 29 and alcohol worth £450 from Co-Op at Broughshane Street in Ballymena on March 24 this year.

She also stole alcohol and other items with a total value of £150 from Co-op on April 10 this year.

The court heard she is a heroin addict and her life had been in a "chaotic phase" but she had a "very limited record".

Judge Mateer sentenced Stott to six months in jail, suspended for three years.

He told the defendant: "The fact that you have an addiction to an illegal substance is something that you have to struggle with. Unfortunately, it is not something that the community should be required to struggle with. You went on a shoplifting expedition on three different occasions".