[A] THIRD person has been sentenced after thousands of pounds worth of clothing was snatched from high street shops in Kendal.
Toni Rochelle Connolly, 26, became the third female to be punished by a judge following a spate of shoplifting in the town last year.
Earlier this week, Connolly’s elder sister and another woman each received immediate 10-month jail terms. The pair had admitted 11 theft charges following three separate criminal expeditions to Kendal – in April, May and June last year. They pinched clothing worth almost £4,600 during what a prosecutor called “dash and grab” raids.
Today (THURS) Toni Connolly admitted five related charges of handling stolen goods, valued at more than £2,200, when she appeared at Carlisle Crown Court. These had been stolen by others on June 7 before police stopped Connolly driving a Citroen southbound on the M6 close to Burton in Kendal.
Connolly, of Hillier Street, Manchester, also admitted driving otherwise than in accordance with her licence.
Her barrister, Michelle Brown, told the court she had been 12 weeks’ pregnant at the time she went to Kendal with her sister and a friend. She was eventually on “good notice” of the pair’s thefts when items were thrown into the back of the Citroen.
But Miss Brown said: “She is at great pains to stress to me that if there had been any inkling of what was going to happen when she got there, 12 weeks’ pregnant, she would never have done that.”
Connolly, now the mother of an eight-week-old child, was given an 18-month community order by Recorder Michael Murray. She must complete a four-month night-time curfew, and pay a £50 fine for the driving crime.
