Bexhill mum sent to prison

Louisa Ives, 26, stole cosmetics worth 154.77 from Savers, in Eastbourne, and assaulted a shop manager who confronted her outside when she was thieving to pay for drugs in 2005.

Chris Bull, prosecuting at Eastbourne Magistrates' Court on December 22, said: "The defendant approached a shelf of L'Oreal products which had just been stocked. The manager approached the aisle and noticed even though the products had just been stocked up, they were virtually gone."

Magistrates were told Ives, carrying a bulging canvas bag which had been empty when she entered Savers, picked up another item and joined the queue to pay but then put it back and left. The manager followed her outside and asked for the goods back.

Mr Bull said: "The defendant said 'I haven't got anything'.

"The defendant punched her on the left cheek and at this stage the store manager had hold of the bag and the defendant tried to pull away."

Staff helped retrieve the bag of goods and Ives ran off. She was later arrested but the store manager suffered a broken finger from the struggle with the bag and had to undergo surgery.

Ives, now of Sea Road in Bexhill, admitted this shoplifting offence and the assault when she appeared for trial earlier this year.

She also admitted theft from Debenhams - for a leather jacket valued at 250 - while she was barred from the store and a charge of intimidating the Savers store manager by staring at her when she saw her on a train.

Justin Rivett, defending, said: "Clearly this defendant is a young lady who has had a drug problem for a number of years and has struggled to overcome it to varying degrees of success for varying periods of time."

Before these offences from August to November 2005, he said, she had stayed drug-free for a 'considerable period of time', had got a job and a flat which she paid for herself.

Mr Rivett said: "She also has a son who lives with her mother but obviously now she is on the straight and narrow and leading a life not addled by drugs, is able to maintain a relationship which isn't only important to her but to him as well."

A pre-sentence report recommended a suspended prison sentence.

Magistrates decided to send Ives to prison for three months for the assault, one month for witness intimidation, and a further one month each for the shoplifting offences to run concurrently.