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Tears as Holbeck mobile phone theft mum is jailed
A Holbeck mum-of-one has been jailed for nine months after she helped to steal a mobile phone from a woman who was knocked down by a bus in Leeds city centre.
Clare O'Connell burst into tears as Judge Alistair McCallum told the 30-year-old and her partner David Robinson, 39, that they were both being locked up for the mean-spirited theft.
Convicted shoplifter O'Connell, of Bismarck Drive, said there would be no one to look after her two-year-old son, but Judge McCallum told her: "You should have thought of that when you were stealing the phone."
Bradford Crown Court heard how the female pedestrian was hit by the wing mirror of the bus as she used her phone on Vicar Lane in May last year.
Although she was not seriously hurt, Robinson, who lives with O'Connell, took advantage of the situation to grab the woman's 180 mobile phone and pass it on to his partner who then left the scene with her son in a pram.
The mobile was never recovered.
The court heard that Robinson, who has previously served six years for
aggravated burglary, was detained at the scene and in August this year the pair were both found guilty of theft after a trial.
Although both defendants had a series of previous convictions, their barrister Andrew Semple highlighted the fact that they were now no longer using heroin and had been out of trouble since the incident in May last year.
He urged the judge to consider suspended prison terms.
But Judge McCallum said the pair had acted in concert and had taken the opportunity to steal the phone when they saw it.
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Sunday 05 February 2012
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