A prolific shoplifter who repeatedly targeted a convenience store in Bath and jointly stole a £19,000 car has been jailed for a total of 229 days by city magistrates.
Samantha Selway | Photo © Avon & Somerset Police
At her appearance in custody on Wednesday 5th November, Samantha Selway, of Loxton Drive in Twerton was also ordered to pay more than £1,000 compensation to the One Stop shop at Southdown.
Selway had been stealing to fund her drug habit. At a court appearance in June, she admitted a series of thefts from the shop and also admitted jointly stealing a car with a co-accused, Ben Rixon.
The vehicle belonged to a manager at Lidl in Bath and was stolen from the supermarket’s car park. Selway had got into the vehicle as a passenger; there was subsequently a collision, and the vehicle was extensively damaged.
In June, magistrates had ordered a pre-sentence report and bailed Selway on condition that she kept away from One Stop shop, but she went on to commit a string of further thefts from the store, to which she pleaded guilty when she was brought back to court at the end of August.
She then failed to turn up for a court appearance last month and ended up back in custody after a warrant was issued.
The One Stop store in The Hollow
With the pre-sentence report still outstanding, the Probation Service attempted to arrange an interview with her while she was on remand but without success, through no fault of Selway’s.
Last Wednesday, magistrates decided to go ahead with sentencing the 35-year-old for 14 offences.
For the joint theft of the vehicle, she was jailed for 121 days and ordered to pay £100 compensation.
For the 12 shop thefts, she was jailed for nine days for each offence, to run consecutively, and ordered to pay £1,223 compensation.
Time already spent on remand will be deducted from Selway’s sentence.
When she comes out of jail, she will be subject to a three-year criminal behaviour order barring her from the One Stop shop – and from any other store which has banned her in writing.
Magistrates waived prosecution costs and a surcharge, and there was no separate penalty for Selway’s failure to surrender to court on 8th October.
