A PERSISTENT thief whose record comprises more than 100 previous crimes has offended again – stealing a Hospice at Home charity collection box.

Maryport woman Kimberley Bennewith, 35, committed the 'mean' theft while visiting Carlisle’s Citadel Railway Station – and then five days later she made a second but unsuccessful attempt to steal the same charity box.

She admitted theft and attempted theft.

Those two offences came just days before Bennewith had committed almost identical crimes, stealing a collection box for the Marie Curie charity in Carlisle and another one from a Maryport Spar for Freeman Hospital.

At Carlisle’s Rickergate court, prosecutor Peter Kelly outlined how the defendant and another woman visited Carlisle Railway Station on July 9, approaching a second-hand book stall which raises money for Hospice at Home.

Customers are encouraged to donate cash by putting it into the collection box, which was left on a book shelf.

The defendant stole the charity box before walking out of the station, said Mr Kelly.

He told the court: “Hospice at Home provides end of life care for people in their own home and the defendant, allegedly in the company of another female, stole that item and left the scene."

Bennewith returned to the railway station on July 14 and attempted to steal the replacement charity box but she was noticed and abandoned the attempt.

The prosecutor then outlined a statement from the charity, in which the Hospice at Home fundraising manager, who said the stolen charity box was likely to have contained slightly over £100 in donations.

“She said that would paid for a nurse and provided respite for a relative of somebody who is terminally ill,” said the prosecutor.

The manager added: “These donations may be small but they make a huge difference.”

Bennewith’s record consists of 107 previous offences and in June she was jailed for 104 days, though she had been due for release the day after the hearing in Carlisle.

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Kate Hunter, defending, said the defendant wanted to leave prison with a “clean sheet”. She was involved in drugs and is currently on a prescription for methadone, the heroin substitute, said the lawyer.

District Judge John Temperley told the defendant: “It’s a particularly mean offence to steal a charity box and in all but rare cases custody is inevitable.”

That view was reinforced in the light of the defendant’s record.

The judge noted that Bennewith, of McCarron Close, Maryport, returned a second time to target the same charity stall.

He added: “Probation would not be appropriate; you have demonstrated and inability to comply with post-sentence supervision and probation while on licence.”

He jailed Bennewith for ten weeks.

She was told she must pay £100 compensation to Hospice at Home, with the money taken at source from her benefits.

* A second woman has denied being involved in the two offences admitted by Bennewith when she visited the Railway Station. A trial is due to take place in January of next year.