Heroin user sent to jail

Joanne Latter, of Bexhill but of no fixed address, claimed she witnessed a stabbing the day she was due to be assessed.

At a court hearing on Monday, Jeremy King, prosecuting, said Latter stole more than 70 worth of goods from Lloyds Pharmacy in Hastings on March 4.

She also stole 480 worth of groceries from Asda in Eastbourne on April 2.

On March 22 Latter stole 20 worth of items from Budgens in Battle and 60 worth of food five days earlier in the Co-op, again in Battle.

Latter, 25, pleaded guilty to four counts of theft when she appeared before Hastings magistrates and asked for a further five similar charges to be taken into account.

Latter was in court on Monday after police arrested her for failing to turn up there on May 7.

Aiden Harvey, defending, said: "She was in a property where there was a stabbing and as a consequence missed her appointment with probation.

"She did see the stabbing and was upset.

"The defendant is extremely sick of her life with chasing the next line of heroin."