A 36-year-old woman stole handbags from the baskets of supermarket shoppers in Blackburn and Hyndburn, a court was told.

Blackburn magistrates heard that on another occasion Mary Louise Kitchen stole blank prescriptions from an Accrington surgery, which she later tried to use to obtain drugs.

Kitchen, 36, of Nuttall Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to three charges of theft and asked for two of theft and two of forgery to be taken into consideration.

She was remitted in custody to Hyndburn magistrates where she is due to be sentenced for other matters of theft and attempted deception on January 21.

Neill White, prosecuting, said the first of the latest offences was committed in Asda, Accrington, when a handbag belonging to Julie Gulsanan was taken from her trolley while her attention was diverted momentarily.

Her mobile phone was in the bag and this was recovered from Kitchen's home when it was searched following a later offence.

Another handbag was stolen from a shopping basket in Morrisons but this time Kitchen was detained by security staff.

The prescriptions were taken from the Abbey Street surgery where Kitchen had gone to collect a prescription.

The theft was not noticed until the doctor received a call from a local chemist who was concerned about a prescription which had been handwritten.