Mum used stolen bank card at Esso garage and was in Kia Sportage taken in Wakefield burglaries
A mum-of-two who used a bank card stolen in a burglary before getting into a car that had been taken in a second burglary.
Sarah Hedley was spared custody at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting charges of taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent and fraud.
The man who was seen driving the Kia Sportage in which Hedley was a passenger has already been jailed.
Prosecutor Zanisha Herbert said the Kia had been taken from a property in Horbury in the early hours of July 12, 2023.
The owner had come down to find the back door open and the keys to the vehicle missing, then noticed the car was gone.
Hours later a bank card taken in another Horbury burglary was used by 41-year-old Hedley at the Esso garage on Castleford Road, Normanton.
She bought alcohol, cigarettes and food items that came to £88. CCTV then tracked her getting into the waiting Kia.
Police went to her address on Sunroyd Avenue in Horbury and arrested her. They found the stolen bank cards and the Kia keys.
During her police interview she denied being involved and said she had no idea that car was stolen.
She has four previous convictions including ABH and theft.
Mitigating, Samreen Akhtar said Hedley had let two homeless relatives of her partner to reside at their address who were “involved in all sorts of criminality”.
She added: “She accepts she was in the stolen vehicle. She is quite apologetic and ashamed of her actions.”
She said Hedley, who has two children aged 18 and nine, had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, but wrongly used alcohol and drugs as a “coping mechanism”.
Judge Richard Mansell KC told Hedley: “It’s pretty clear to me, despite your various denials, you knew what it was about.
“It’s clear he [her co defendant] was driving around using that card as much as he could before he was stopped.
“It can’t have been something you were unaware of. You are quite a vulnerable lady, you have various issues.
“You need support rather than punishment in sending you to prison.”
He gave her an 18-month community order and 30 rehabilitation days with probation.