Woman jailed for handbag theft

A 22-YEAR-OLD mother has been jailed for stealing a shopper's handbag in Asda.

A 22-YEAR-OLD mother has been jailed for stealing a shopper's handbag in Asda.

Dana Metodieva and her friend got a train from London and a taxi to Asda in Ipswich on Saturday.

Security staff watched Metodieva on CCTV take a woman's handbag out of a trolley and place it behind her own bag before leaving the store.

Gareth Davies, prosecuting at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court, said security staff detained her after she ran and dropped the bag. The handbag contained £150 in cash and a mobile telephone.

During a police interview Bulgarian Metodieva, of Green Lanes in London's Haringey area, told police she had seen the handbag and believed it was lost so she was going to hand it in. She said she ran outside the store because she thought she spotted the woman it belonged to. She said she only dropped the bag when security staff “banged” into her.

Metodieva pleaded not guilty to the theft despite having a similar previous conviction and another court appearance in Warwickshire for the same offence.

Neil Saunders, defending Metodieva, said his tearful client had a four-month-old baby and had never been to prison before.

Metodieva was remanded in custody until April 3 when her case would have been back in court but less than an hour later she changed her plea to guilty and was jailed for 42 days.

Deputy District Judge Sandib Kainth said: “I'm going to sentence you immediately. The aggravating features are that you deliberately targeted shoppers, you came from London to undertake this criminal activity and this offence was committed while on bail for another offence”.