A CARLISLE mum prosecuted for stealing coffee was making a desperate attempt to control her crippling mental health condition, a court heard.

Prosecuted for the first time ever in her life over the two thefts, the woman addressed magistrates for almost 15 minutes, telling them that she was being offered no specialist medical care for her ADHD.

After reading research online about treating the condition with caffeine, she twice stole coffee from a store in the city, believing it would help.

She admitted two counts of theft.

Addressing magistrates at the city’s Rickergate court, the woman said: “This is going to sound crazy, but there was method in my madness.”

She outlined how her doctor had referred her to Psychiatry UK because of her ADHD, her condition being so bad she needed emergency medication. It took six months for the medication to be arranged, she said.

But after she began taking the medication, she was advised to stop taking it because she had developed an infection, she said. The woman told magistrates: “I became too poorly to be looked after but I needed immediate help.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a specialist ADHD service in Carlisle, and I wasn’t medicated; and it went on for months and months and I was getting more and more poorly so I started to research what I could do to help my ADHD.

“I was desperate and willing to try anything.”

The woman went on to explain that she had other complex mental health issues linked to childhood abuse, and this had left her without some key life skills.

She said: “They were trying to get me a psychologist to change my thought processes; I have paperwork from a psychologist to explain why I think the way I do.”

Referring to the coffee thefts, committed on successive days in April, she added: “I was trying to self-medicate but I am old-school.

“I don’t believe in stealing but I was desperate.”

Magistrates noted that it was the woman’s first offence and the medical background. They imposed a six-month conditional discharge but said the woman should compensate the store involved, paying the £26 value of the coffee she stole, the store involved.

Research into the effects of caffeine on ADHD is ongoing but many experts suggest it can effectively counter attention, learning, and memory deficits in animal models of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

She described herself as a single mum who depends on benefits.

After the case, the woman - who said her energy costs doubled after the firm she used went bust and her account was transferred to another provider - said she stole the coffee because she was desperate to address her symptoms. 

For more information about ADHD, log on to his page from the mental health charity Mind, ADHD and mental health.