A WREXHAM drug addict was handed 12 months behind bars after admitting to several shoplifting sprees amounting to hundreds of pounds.

Michelle Flanagan, of Bryn Hafod, appeared before Mold Crown Court via a video link from HMP Styal in Manchester and admitted to six counts of shoplifting across stores in Wrexham and Flintshire.

The prosecution, Philip Clemo, told the court how the 47-year-old’s first offence took place February of this year at Broughton Retail Park.

On February 28, Flanagan was spotted at the Homesense store in Flintshire just after 7.20pm where she stole a side table and left the store. Moments later she returned and rolled up a sheepskin rug which was left at the end of an aisle and was spotted leaving the store with a second side table before making a third visit to retrieve the rug.

During her 10-minute visit to the store, at no point did she make an effort to pay for the goods, Mr Clemo says, and it has also not been possible to value the items taken.

Further thefts were recorded days later on March 1 at midday in the Co-op store on Cross Lane in Wrexham where she took £30 worth of meat products and made her escape in a car waiting outside the shop. Again, no attempts to pay were made.

Hours later, the court heard that Flanagan had travelled to the M&S store on Broughton Retail Park and stole several items within a 15-minute spree. She was said to have handed a trolley full of goods to a man whilst making her escape. She repeated the process minutes later with a second trolley – including £250 worth of goods in total.

Her fourth offence occurred on March 7 back at Broughton Retail Park where she was spotted at 6pm in the Next store. Flanagan was said to have picked up a lamp and a canvas print – valued together at £50 – and made her way out of the store within minutes.

Her crimes had caught up with her and Flanagan admitted to all offences on March 25, telling police officers she was stealing in order to fund a drug habit.

On June 25, she was brought before Mold Crown Court and had a previous suspended sentence order extended for a further two months.

Despite this, Flanagan continued her spree of stealing when non-essential shops in Wales had reopened their doors to customers after months of closure.

She was spotted by a Boots employee on July 3 at Eagles Meadow in Wrexham – who recognised her from previous incidents – believing that she was tampering with security tags.

Flanagan was then found to have selected Yankee Candle products to the value of £75 and placed them in her bag after being stopped at the store exit. Items belonging to the nearby Next store were recovered from her – including various items of children’s clothes costing £68.

She was arrested and interviewed by police – declining to answer questions.

The prosecution argues that in most instances brought before the court that these thefts were the results of ‘significant planning’ – with assistance from drivers waiting outside shops and in-store accomplices also handling goods.

The defence, Andrew Green, says Flanagan was remorseful for her actions and he had been “horribly blighted by her addiction to drugs” throughout most of her life.

Mr Green read part of a letter that Flanagan had penned detailing how she was ‘devastated’ to be back in prison because of her ‘selfish’ actions and acknowledges how she made the ‘wrong choices’ in life and reverted to old habits that led to her being back in prison.

The letter says prior to the latest shoplifting offence in July, it has been the longest that Flanagan has been out of jail – namely 20 years.

In passing sentence, Recorder Mr Paul Lewis QC told Flanagan as she fought back tears that a prison sentence was the only justified way to deal with her offending.

He said: “I have no doubt that you are a habitual shoplifter and I'm conscious that much of your offending, if not all of it, has been provoked by your drug dependence.

“You’ve breached orders of every type that have been imposed upon you. They've had no effect.

“You left this court [in June] with assurances given to the judge how remorseful you were and how you were determined to stay out of trouble. You weren't and within a few days you went out on another shoplifting spree.”

Mr Lewis said that he must take into account that there had been elements of planning in these thefts and that Flanagan was an experienced thief.