Woman jailed after stealing eye drops

A BEXHILL woman has been jailed for 10 weeks after stealing eye drops worth £3.99.

Donna Battams, 47, was handed the prison sentence after being caught in Boots in Hastings on April 22.

At a court hearing on Tuesday, Simon Allen, prosecuting, said Battams, of St Marks Close, Bexhill, was seen ripping open the box and slipping the eye drops in her hand.

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He said: "The defendant went to the till to pay for other goods and was approached by one of the store detectives."

Hastings magistrates heard Battams was in breach of a suspended prison sentence which had been imposed in January for 12 months.

She pleaded guilty to shoplifting at Tuesday's hearing.

Sam Wingfield, defending, said: "The defendant had forgotten she had taken the item to read the instructions as she would used them before.

"She says if she had intended to steal this item she would have stolen something worth more than 3.99.

"At the time she was suffering quite badly from menopause.

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"She was had a drinking problem and once drank a bottle of wine a day. Now it's once a month.

"She has done so well with her alcohol treatment programme that she has been asked if she could be a counsellor on the programme to help others."

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