A woman who burgled her parents’ home then risked prison after the courts gave her a reprieve has managed to keep her freedom.
Bridget Gilhooley joined her then partner Paul Binks in breaking into her parents’ home in Marton, Middlesbrough and stole items including a bowl of great sentimental value.
Binks, 39, was jailed for two years and five months last July after his fingerprints were found at the scene of the burglary on April 8.
A judge took a chance on Gilhooley, 26, and deferred her sentence for six months on conditions that she keep out of trouble and obey court orders.
Recorder Michael Slater was told she was “bedevilled by drink and drugs problems” and was motivated to tackle her problems and put her life in order.
She went on to commit shoplifting offences in Middlesbrough, stealing £150 worth of Armani perfume sets from Boots on August 20 and a bottle of wine from an off-licence on October 20.
Mum-of-two Gilhooley, of Aske Road, Gresham, Middlesbrough, admitted her first burglary, the two thefts and twice failing to turn up to court.
Gary Wood, defending at Teesside Crown Court today, said she was now a “remarkably different” to the person she was months earlier.
She had been under the grip of heroin addiction in late 2014 but was now prescribed methadone, significantly reduced her alcohol use and took counselling.
Her behaviour had improved dramatically since December and her relationship with her mother had “come on in leaps and bounds”.
Mr Wood said: “She is aware of her precarious position but instructs me that she really feels that she’s turned a corner and would like to continue obtaining assistance from services.”
Recorder Slater said Gilhooley had already served the equivalent of a seven-month sentence inside, her first experience of custody.
He said: “I find myself in a quandary because normally people who don’t do as they’re told on a deferment go straight to prison.
“I have to ask myself whether there would be any point in sending you back to prison.
“It seems to me that it would be more destructive to you and society if I did so.
“This is a final opportunity to carry on with the good progress you’ve made in the last few months.”
He gave her a 16-month jail term suspended for two years with supervision and drug rehabilitation.
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