Jekyll and Hyde offender jailed for string of crimes in South Tyneside and Sunderland

Homeless Kirstine Amer, 39, was caged after a judge concluded she had “reached the end of the road” due to her failure to accept professional help.

Amer first offended on Tuesday, January 28, when she stole £22 of firewood and a £9 coal brazier in two raids at Boldon Lane service station in South Shields.

She then pinched a £12 crate of Budweiser beer from Morrisons in Edinburgh Road, Jarrow, on Monday, March 3.

Amer was then caught in possession of prohibited class B drug amphetamine in Hylton Road North, Sunderland, on Friday, March 14.

And on Wednesday, April 30, she damaged a police van’s internal metal cage by using her head and feet after her arrest.

She also failed to comply with the terms of an anti-social behaviour section 35 order on Friday, June 6.

Amer did so by failing to leave an area she was excluded from by police in South Shields, South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard.

She also twice failed to attend court on Wednesday, July 16, and Thursday, August 7, while on bail.

Of the police van attack, prosecutor Chike Anieto said: “Police arrested her on a warrant.

“She was placed in the cage in the rear of the police van. She hit the door with her head.

“She was warned about her behaviour. She then kicked the door, causing the damage.”

Amer pleaded guilty to three counts of theft from a shop and two of failing to surrender to custody.

She also admitted one count each of attempted criminal damage, possession of a controlled drug and failing to comply with a section 35 direction.

David Forrester, defending, admitted support agencies had fruitlessly attempted to get Amer to engage.

But he insisted her failure to do so was not deliberate but because of “deep seated” mental health issues.

Mr Forrester added: “For the past three months, we’ve all attempted to get a pre-sentence report.

“Two-and-a-half months ago, the option was for some kind of therapeutic treatment.

“There is the Jekyll to her Hyde. At this moment, she is in her Dr Jekyll mode.

“I appreciate that with the reports there was a refusal to comply.

“She stole a crate of Budweiser, and the items were firewood and a coal brazier.

“It was January, she was homeless, and she wanted to heat herself.”

District Judge Zoe Passfield told Amer she had “reached end of the road” in being offered support opportunities.

She jailed Amer for four concurrent weeks for each shop theft and to four consecutive weeks for attempting criminal damage.

The judge also jailed her for seven consecutive days for the section 35 breach and the same for each bail matter.

The bail sentences will run concurrently to each other. There was no separate penalty for drug possession.

Amer must pay a £154 victim surcharge on her release.