A WOMAN who went on a shoplifting spree and attacked workers has avoided a jail sentence.
Shoplifter Emma Stoten committed three thefts at M&S, Waitrose and St Pauls News, and assaulted four staff members within a week in June.
Stoten, of no fixed abode, appeared at Worcester Crown Court, sitting in Redditch, via a video link from HMP Eastwood Park to be sentenced for the seven offences, after she pleaded guilty in July.
The court heard that on June 18, Stoten was spotted putting meat products in her bag at Marks and Spencer in Worcester. She then went upstairs, where she took a handbag and beauty products. As she tried to leave the store with £993.40 worth of stock from the store, she was confronted by two members of staff.
The court heard that she then became hostile towards the staff, pushing one and punching the other in the hand, before running out of the store. Stoten was arrested shortly after, and in an interview at the police station, she said: “I do not know what I was doing’.
The court heard that four days later, Stoten was spotted behaving erratically by a member of staff in Waitrose. After stealing items including cocktails, milkshakes, and chilled coffees, she made for the exit, when she was confronted by the store’s duty manager. This caused Stoten to begin shouting explicit language towards the staff member, before pushing her out of the way
The duty manager told the court in a victim impact statement that she was left shaken by the incident, and it was the first time in 20 years of working in retail she had felt like that.
The court heard the third and final shop Stoten targeted in her spree was St Paul’s News, a small business on Paul’s Street on the outskirts of the city centre.
The 45-year-old took cider and Buzzballs from the store’s shelves when the owner, Mr Patel, blocked her exit.
Stoten told the business owner she had had a bad day and tried to leave. Mr Patel stopped her, at which point she began to shout abuse at him, struck him in the face and scratched his arms.
She then pulled out a lighter and tried to burn him with it.
In his victim impact statement, Mr Patel shared how he had experienced fear, anxiety, and how he now fears being in his own business.
The court heard Stoten had 59 previous convictions, including three violent offences.
Mitigating, Stoten’s defence barrister, Mr Griffiths, said: “In Stoten’s case, immediate custody does not work.
“It is quite clear there are entrenched problems.”
Mr Griffiths instead argued that her sentence should be suspended and she should be sent to a rehabilitation facility.
Sentencing, Recorder Richard Mawhinney said: “It is all well and good saying you had a bad day, but Mr Patel and the likes of Mr Patel have to suffer because you had a bad day.
“In a rather sinister turn of events, you took a lighter out of your pocket and tried to burn his arm.
“With a great deal of reluctance, I am going to suspend it, because there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”
Stoten was sentenced to 38 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.
She will also spend 12 weeks at a rehabilitation facility and complete 30 days of rehabilitation activities.
