A WOMAN who stole almost £900 of perfume from Boots in Skipton has been given a suspended prison sentence from magistrates.

Mary Maughan, 23, went into the High Street store on February 22, and with another woman took perfume off the shelves and left without paying.

She was identified on the store's CCTV cameras in which she was filmed putting the items into a bag, the Skipton court heard.

Maughan, the court heard, was currently subject to two different court orders, including a suspended prison sentence of 16 weeks for theft from Leeds Magistrates' Court. She also had unpaid fines of more than £4,000, none of which she was paying.

Maughan, who admitted the theft of £878 of perfume, had at the time been involved in a relationship with a drug user who forced her to steal to fund his habit. She would travel from her home in Leeds to outlying towns to steal, the court heard.

In mitigation, Keith Blackwell, said Maughan, who had never worked, was now living with her mother and sister and was attempting to steady herself.

Maughan, of Cardinal Avenue, Leeds, was handed a 12 week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. She will also be subject to a curfew for six weeks, from 7pm to 7am, and have to carry out 120 hours unpaid work, complete up to 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay a surcharge of £115.

Magistrates told Maughan they were not ordering her to pay compensation to Boots for the perfume because of the amount she already owed, but warned her she faced a serious risk of being sent to prison for non-payment, as well as if she committed another offence in the next year.