Sunderland mother sentenced after burgling friend's house and raiding B&M and M&S

A heroin-using mum who burgled her sister’s best friend’s home in the night after finding keys left in the front door has been spared jail.

Stacey Carolan, 43, was handed a 26-week prison term, suspended for two years, for what magistrates labelled a “breach of trust”.

Carolan, of Portchester Road, Pennywell, Sunderland, let herself into a nearby property and swiped a Tupperware box containing £40 in coins as the occupants slept. 

She claimed to police she had stepped inside in darkness to shout an alert about their error on Sunday, March 6, 2022, but got no response.

But CCTV showed her sneaking around for 15 minutes and leaving with the box hidden under clothing, prosecutor Paul Coulson said.

Five months earlier, on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, Carolan pinched £160 of Yankee candles from retailer B&M’s outlet at The Green, Southwick.

Carolan, who was in thrall to a drug addiction and in debt to dealers, failed to mend her ways and struck again Thursday, August 24 last year.

She took a leg of lamb and three Aberdeen Angus steaks, totalling £77, from Marks & Spencer’s store in Alnwick, Northumberland.

And she targeted the same retailer’s Team Valley outlet in Gateshead on Thursday, October 26, pinching £80 of steaks and lamb.

Of the burglary, Mr Coulson said: “The victim was at home and her partner returned at 11.15pm. He said he had mistakenly left his keys in the door.

“The woman got up the next day and noticed the Tupperware box missing. She checked her CCTV and saw her sister’s best friend had been in the house.

“CCTV showed her coming into the house twice that night and staying inside for 15 minutes.”

Carolan pleaded guilty to three counts of shop theft, one of dwelling burglary and two of failing to surrender to custody, on July 19, 2022, and November 1, 2023.

While committing one offence, she was subject to a suspended prison term for failing to comply with an earlier court order.

Heather Bolton, defending, said: “Ms Carolan has a history of substance misuse. She has not used heroin for the past three days.

“Unfortunately, drug debts have to be paid. She describes it being forced upon her that she had to commit these offences.”

Of the burglary, Mrs Bolton added: “It was committed on impulse. She is devastated by her actions.

“This was her sister’s best friend and someone she had known all her life. She saw the key and went into the property.

“She says she shouted to tell them that they had left the keys in the door. She foolishy took the money.”

Magistrates jailed Carolan for 12 weeks for burglary, four weeks for each theft and a week for each fail to surrender, to run consecutively.

She was also handed a two-year community order, with 30 rehabilitation days and the Thinking Skills programme.

Carolan was fined £50 in place of the suspended sentence being activated and must pay compensation of £50 to her burglary victim and full amounts for each shop theft.