A WOMAN who stole clothes from a chain store in an apparent bid to raise money for food will have to wait another six months to be sentenced.

Elizabeth Hanson was told that she needed to stay out of trouble and complete a drug rehabilitation order first with the sentence being deferred.

Hanson, 40, who previously conned a 76-year-old vulnerable pensioner into providing her with £2,230 worth of loans, admitted theft of two t-shirts from TK Maxx in Middlesbrough's Captain Cook square on March 12 this year.

She also pleaded guilty to breaching a suspended jail sentence and a conditional discharge.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the theft was essentially out of desperation and in order to buy food after her benefits had been stopped.

Hanson, of Harris Street, Middlesbrough, had been a drug addict for 20 years, taking heroin and cocaine.

Judge Peter Armstrong told her: "If you get a good report within six months you won't be locked up.

“If you fail, I cannot see any alternative to activating the suspended sentence.”