A WOMAN who avoided custody on her last court appearance has been sent to prison for 12 weeks after breaching a suspended sentence order for the fourth time.

Nazreen Herbert-Carter, aged 32, pleaded guilty to stealing meat worth £64.53 from the Sainsbury’s store in Windermere Drive, Warndon, Worcester.

The court was told that Herbert-Carter was the subject of a suspended sentence order, a curfew and a supervision requirement.

On her last court appearance, Herbert-Carter was told she could have “easily gone down” after admitting stealing five mascaras worth £27.95 from Superdrug in High Street, Worcester.

However, magistrates were persuaded not to send her to jail after hearing she was drug-free and trying to better herself.

As previously reported in your Worcester News, Herbert-Carter was studying for a GCSE in Maths, having previously studied for one in English, and was about to start training as a hairdresser. But Sarah Stock, prosecuting, said Herbert-Carter was now back on heroin and told police she stole the meat to sell for cash to buy the class A drug.

Mrs Stock said Herbert-Carter was seen walking into Sainsbury’s at noon on June 8 and heading for the meat aisle. She put meat in a plastic bag, which split, and then put it under her jacket.

As she left the store, she was detained and the meat was recovered.

Susie Duncan, defending, said Herbert-Carter had gone back to heroin because she was not allowed to enter the pharmacy where she collected her methadone prescription following a previous theft. Mrs Duncan said: “She also told me that one of the reasons she returned to heroin was that her father had been diagnosed with cancer.

“To her credit she has opened up about her heroin misuse. She does have a lot of health issues.”

Herbert-Carter, of Brookthorpe Close, Warndon, Worcester, was sentenced to eight weeks in custody as outlined in the suspended sentence order and four weeks in custody for the theft, to run consecutively.