A serial shoplifter who committed offences while a warrant was out for her arrest has been given 'one more chance' to turn her life around.

Terri Spellman, 33, of no fixed abode, was located and arrested by Wiltshire Police officers in June after a warrant had been put out for her arrest for non-attendance of a court date in May relating to previous thefts. 

She appeared before Swindon Magistrates' Court on Monday, June 17 and pleaded guilty to several more counts of thefts she had committed since that time, possession of a Class A drug, and breach of the community order she had previously been given. 

In April, she stole food from Asda supermarket at the Orbital Shopping Park on three occasions, totalling £186. 

In May, she targeted a Co-op stealing laundry products, coffee, washing liquid and biscuits during four separate thefts, amounting to £202.37.

And in June, Spellman committed five thefts at Morrisons and Co-op, again made up of laundry projects, food and other items, at a cost of £223.95

The court heard from Spellman's defence counsel, Emma Hillier, that the defendant had recently been made homeless and was sleeping rough which resulted in her missing the court date in April, and added that many of the items stolen were "for her survival". 

She said: "She lost her accommodation eight weeks ago, she's in rent arrears and had her benefits stopped. She has now been evicted and as you can see many of the items she took were to keep her alive.

"She doesn’t want to continue the life she has been living."

Miss Hillier recommended that a community order be imposed on Spellman, but after hearing of her historic non-compliance with the probation service, magistrates were unsure whether that would be appropriate.

After deliberation, they opted to give Spellman a suspended sentence. 

“I’ve seen you a few times before, your thefts are persistent and happen day after day after day, but we are not going to send you to prison," she was told.

"We want to stop your serial reoffending, so we have to look very carefully at how we can stop you and we have been convinced to a degree.

“So we will be suspending your sentence, but if there is just one misstep, one new offence, you will go to prison, that is an absolute given, you won’t be given a new opportunity again.

"But to stop, you have got to work with probation, and you can only do that if you turn up, and so far you haven’t been turning up."

As a result, Spellman was given a six-month suspended sentence for the next 12 months and ordered to attend six months of drug rehabilitation through PGL, and 30 activity requirement days

A surcharge of £154 was also added to outstanding fines from previous offences.

In March, Spellman was convicted of eight thefts that took place in November and December last year, and another theft of pet food that month.

She was given a community order until March 2025, requiring her to attend 20 days of rehabilitation activities with the probation service and tag and curfew for two weeks. 

But she failed to attend the induction appointments on March 14 and March 22, so a court hearing was issued on May 20 where a warrant for her arrest was granted. 

Police issued a public appeal asking for her whereabouts last weekend, and she was arrested and charged on Sunday, June 16, leading to her court appearance on Monday.