A FORMER drug addicted graduate turned to drink after the man she had looked forward to a new life with attacked her.

Burnley magistrates heard how Andrea Louise Riley, 32, once had a good job in London, but fell victim to the plague of heroin, after using drugs recreationally.

She began drinking and stole two bottles of whisky from a shop after her partner beat her up.

Riley, of Langworth Road, Pikehill, Burnley, admitted theft from shop premises and was put on probation for 12 months and ordered to pay £65 costs. The bench allowed an existing conditional discharge to run.

Dylan Bradshaw, defending, said Riley had been the victim of a very serious assault, which added considerably to the stress and anxiety she felt over the breakdown of her relationship.

She had hoped to start a new life with that particular man, they had got a nice house in Sabden and she had hoped it would be a new beginning. Instead, it ended in violence and her suffering injury and when she left that property, she moved around, without any real base. She lived in constant fear of the man and had spent some time in a local refuge.

The defendant did not return to heroin, but began to drink and substance misuse was at the very core of all her offending.

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