Thief jailed after wasting chance

A JUDGE who tried to help a prolific offender jailed her for 12 months, saying she had reached "the end of the line".

Sundee Spaulding admitted to Judge Carol Hagen she had "messed up", after pleading guilty to failing to attend court and breaching a community order by shoplifting.

The homeless 25-year-old told the judge: "I wanted to apologise. You did give me so many chances. I did mess up and the only option now is custody. I think that is the best option. I did mess up. I know you don't care that I messed up. I'm sorry for letting you down."

Judge Hagen said she did care Spaulding had not complied with the court, and said she hoped she could go on to lead a decent life.

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She said: "This was a combination of factors. I do understand, but I have no option today. It is the end of the line. I hope the future is not without hope."

Robert Reid, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court Spaulding failed to attend court and stole £420 worth of cosmetic creams from Lloyds Pharmacy in Lawrence Weston.

He said she had racked up 104 offences previously.

Neil Treharne, defending, said his client had not attended court due to food poisoning. He said Spaulding had carried out the opportunist theft in order to pay rent.

Judge Hagen previously gave Spaulding a non-custodial sentence as a last chance, but had promised 12 months' jail should Spaulding not take the helping hand.

In May this year Spaulding avoided jail for her crimes despite having more than 33 convictions for 100 theft-related and dishonesty crimes.

She was spared prison despite breaking a previous suspended sentence order for a previous crime.

On that occasion Judge Hagen gave her one last chance. The judge told Spaulding in May: "You present me with a real problem, Sundee Spaulding. You commit offence after offence and always there is some excuse on your part. The question for me is do I send you to prison or not. I am persuaded it is in the interests of justice that I do not activate that suspended sentence."