FREEDOM was short lived for a 28-year-old woman who was arrested at the prison gates.

Blackburn magistrates heard that detectives were waiting to arrest Shelly Leanne Morrison as she left Styal Prison and she was later charged with offences that followed after a purse containing bank cards and three £1,000 rings was stolen in Clitheroe. Morrison, of Brownhill Avenue, Burnley, pleaded guilty to theft of cigarettes and cash worth £72 from Tesco in Clitheroe and cigarettes and cash worth £82 from the Co-op in Padiham. She was given a conditional discharge for 18 months and ordered to pay £154 compensation.

Neil White, prosecuting, said the offences were committed in October, before Morrison received a prison sentence.

A woman in the toilets at Morrisons in Clitheroe had removed her rings and placed them in her purse while she washed her hands.

The purse was stolen and 20 minutes later Morrison used a Switch card taken from the purse at Tesco. Shortly after she used the same card in Padiham.

Bill Grice, defending, said Morrison had been committing offences of theft to fund her heroin habit since she was 18.

He said the district judge who sent her to prison had expressed the hope that the short sentence would help her get away from heroin.