A PROLIFIC thief has escaped going to prison after admitting a string of thefts, from stealing meat to smuggling perfume.

On July 29, Tanya Christine Thomson, of Luther Street in Oxford, used a foil lined bag to take three bottles of perfume from Boots in Banbury. Only days earlier, on July 17, she had gone into Sainsbury's in Bicester and stolen nearly £60 worth of meat. She went back again in September and this time stole £86.42 worth of meat.

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But because she had been banned from going into the shopping centre at an earlier court hearing, she faced 10 charges of theft and breaching these orders when she appeared at Oxford Magistrates' Court on November 13.

In total, Thomson was sentenced to 17 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.

In that time she must get treatment for her drug problems.

She was also ordered to do 25 days of rehabilitation activity and must pay a victim surcharge of £122.