A SERIAL shoplifter has avoided an immediate prison sentence after she defied a court order while also serving a suspended sentence.

Ashton Waugh, 24, was given a a 12-month community order in March last year after she admitted 10 theft offences, one of which saw her take a Buddha ornament, valued at £49.99, from the British Heart Foundation shop in Carlisle.

Four months later she was given a two-year criminal behaviour order after she had been found guilty of 23 offences of shoplifting in Carlisle and Brampton at an earlier hearing.

In December she was hauled before magistrates in Carlisle after she again breached her criminal behaviour order by entering a shop she was barred from entering.

Waugh, of St Martins Drive in Brampton, was given another community order for this offence.

In February of this year she was given a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months, after admitting breaches of a criminal behaviour order and one theft offence.

The latest offence – which saw Waugh appear before Carlisle’s magistrates’ court yesterday – she admitted breaching her criminal behaviour order by entering Sainsbury’s supermarket in Caldewgate on February 18.

Diane Jackson, prosecuting, said: “On the 18th of February at about 3.20pm the defendant has gone into Sainsbury’s and browsed around the store, in direct breach of her criminal behaviour order.”

John Smith, defending Waugh, read a statement from a senior mental health practitioner who had been working with Waugh for the last two years.

“She is close and accessible to associates who use drugs, which is a bad influence on Ashton,” he said.

“She plans to move to Carlisle and has been bidding on housing association properties.”

Mr Smith told the court his client had made positive strides in tackling her addiction to drugs.

He also read out a statement on behalf of Gateway 4 Women, who said Waugh had been responding well to treatments they had been providing.

The court also heard from the probation service who confirmed Waugh had been making progress.

“The only support she has comes from professional agencies involved with her,” continued Mr Smith.

“In Carlisle it will be much easier to access those. Her personal circumstances are changing for the better.”

District Judge Gerald Chalk sentenced Waugh to 22 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.

He also imposed a 100 hours unpaid work requirement and ordered her to take part in a thinking skills programme.

“If you are back before me for a breach, you will get 22 weeks,” he told Waugh.

She must also pay a £122 victim surcharge and £85 in costs.