A woman persuaded her friends to help her steal items worth more than £2,000 from shops to pay a loan shark.

Amanda Louisa Ellitts, Amy Louise Benton and Jodie Lee Ridgeway travelled from the West Midlands to steal from shops in Chester and Wrexham on November 6.

The trio pleaded guilty at Wrexham Magistrates Court yesterday to taking handbags worth a total of £1,580 from TK Maxx and 11 perfume box sets of unknown value from the nearby Boots store.

They also admitted the theft of goods worth £830 from Mothercare in Chester Retail Park and going equipped to steal with foil lined bags.

Justin Espie, prosecuting, said first went to the Chester store, and then to Wrexham and selected the items as a team before leaving.

They were stopped on the A483 where police recovered the items.

Benton, 30, of Tintern Crescent in Walsall, told probation officer Andrew Connah that she became involved because Ellitts was in debt to a loan shark, who had instructed all three of them to steal items that he had listed for them and where to go to do it.

The police were investigating the man in question, magistrates heard.

Ellitts, 31, of Linden Close in Benton, Walsall, said she owed money and asked both her friends to help to repay the debt.

The money was initially owed because of Ellitts’ cocaine use, Mr Connah said.

But Ellitts, who is pregnant, said she was receiving help and hoped to continue to abstain from the drug. Her mother had since repaid the debt.

Martin McNamara, defending Ridgeway, said his client was seven months pregnant and had only physically taken items from Mothercare for her baby.

But she had driven there, was in possession of a foil bag and took responsibility for her actions.

Mr McNamara stressed Ridgeway’s financial problems were in no way related to the loan shark.

She had serious financial problems linked to her benefits, the court heard.

Ridgeway, 29, of Tower View Road in Great Wyrley,Walsall, had been encouraged by the others to commit the offences and was involved because she had access to a car, which belonged to her father.

She had suffered domestic abuse at the hands of her former partner, who is in prison, and there were arrangements being made to rehome her pending his release.

She had fallen into a depression and lost her job as a support worker, before her benefits were stopped due to a mistake by the Benefits Agency.

Ridgeway had no convictions for like matters - whereas the other women had – and the offence were out of character, Mr McNamara said.

Andrew Holliday, defending Benton and Ellitts, said the women had made prompt guilty pleas and made frank admissions in interview.

There was a degree of planning involved – given the foil bags  and distance travelled – but the offence could not be said to be sophisticated.

It was clear from their records that they were not professional shoplifters, he said.

“As far as Miss Benton and Miss Ellitts were concerned, the debts were why they came to the area,” he added.

Benton had suffered greatly with mental health problems and her mother had said in an email that she had needed help and medication as a result of matters which Mr Holliday said he would not disclose in open court.

Magistrates’ chairman Menna Colclough told Benton and Ellitts that the offences passed the custody threshold, as they were planned and the goods were of a high value.

She sentenced them both to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for a year. They each must pay a £115 surcharge and £85 in prosecution costs.

Benton, a part-time mental health carer, must observe an 8pm-7am curfew three days per week for three months.

Ellitts must observe a curfew for the same time period, seven days a week for two months.

Magistrates imposed a 12 month community order on Ridgeway, which includes a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 15 days.

She was fined £80 and ordered to pay £85 in both prosecution costs and a surcharge.