A MOTHER who used stolen bank cards to buy groceries to feed her eight children has been jailed for five months.
Shona Waugh's plight drew sympathy from a sheriff but he warned she could not tackle her problems by turning to crime.
Waugh, 37, was caught with a stash of stolen credit cards and had used them to spend almost £650 in various supermarkets in Dalk
eith.
"I'm genuinely sorry to know of all the difficulties you have had in your past but you cannot tackle these or cure them by embarking on criminal behaviour," said Sheriff Raymond McMenamin, at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.
"I take the view that a custodial sentence is appropriate," he added.
Waugh, of Dougal Place, Mayfield, Dalkeith, was charged with 17 offences after police arrested her in connection with another matter, and overheard her telling one of her young children to get rid of her handbag.
Police seized the bag and found around 14 stolen bank and credit cards.
When they investigated further, they found Waugh had obtained some of the cards just a day after they had been stolen and had used them for multiple supermarket trips.
She pleaded guilty today to ten charges of reset between October 2006 and June 2007, and obtaining £643.98 by fraud during January and February 2007.
Elspeth Macdougall, defending, said Waugh, who has previous convictions for dishonesty and was jailed for four months for another offence on Monday, had turned to credit card fraud to feed her family.
"She was under significant financial burden at the time and was receiving no financial support from her husband," said Ms Macdougall.
"These frauds were committed to buy groceries for the family," she added.
The sentence will be backdated to July 21 when she was taken into custody.
The full article contains 308 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
