Corby career shoplifter back in jail after admitting nineteen more brazen crimes

Paula McKenna from Corby has been stealing from shops across the region again. Image: National World

A Corby woman who has racked up hundreds of convictions for shoplifting has been back before the courts to be sentenced for 19 new offences.

Paula McKenna was in front of Northampton Magistrates’ Court earlier this week to plead guilty to new crimes committed at shops across Corby, Uppingham, Rushden Lakes and Market Harborough.

The 35-year-old of Plumpton Court, Corby, was already the subject of a sixth suspended jail sentence imposed for a previous shoplifting spree in Marks and Spencer and One Stop Shop in Studfall Avenue last August.

Paula McKenna, from Corby. Image: Northants Police / National World

She has now admitted a string of new offences that began just a week after her last court appearance and ended at the end of March this year.

The court heard how McKenna visited the BP Garage in Melton Road, Market Harborough, on August 21 and 22 last year where she stole wine, salmon, meat and air fresheners worth £160.

She was at Budgens in Uppingham in January where she took items worth £96

She went to Cotswold Outdoor at Rushden Lakes in November where she walked out with clothing worth £2,050.

In March this year she twice stole food from Marks and Spencer in Phoenix Parkway and from the Shell Garage in Cottingham Road eight times in just one month.

She also stole food from Greggs and Tesco in Corby, plus six bottles of wine from Morrisons.

She also admitted failing to surrender to the court on February 20 and a common assault on a man in Corby in March.

Magistrates told McKenna their only option was to send her to prison for a total of 50 weeks. They also ordered her to pay £3,472,73 in compensation to the shops she stole from and the man she assaulted.

Corby Police have launched a major crackdown on the town’s most prolific shoplifters – including McKenna – in recent months. Their efforts have helped slash the number of times local stores are being targeted by the hardcore group of drug-users.

Their campaign was kickstarted in November when two prolific shoplifters were jailed and told to pay £10,000 back to the shops they had thieved from.