Doncaster woman with six months to live is tagged after Asda grocery theft

A terminally-ill Doncaster woman with six months left to live tried to steal groceries, a court was told.
Forest Town ASDAForest Town ASDA
Forest Town ASDA

Diane Parfitt, aged 47, of Balby Road, Doncaster, admitted the theft of £449 of meat, spirits and toiletries on January 18.

Parfitt appeared before magistrates in North Nottinghamshire over the incident this week.

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She was accused of carrying out the thefts from an Asda store in the village of Forest Town.

The court was told that she removed security tags on the goods in the disabled toilets, at the store.

But she was leaving without the goods when she was stopped by police, Neil Hollett, prosecuting, told magistrates.

Greta Percival, of the probation service, said Parfitt, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer, had been given 18 months to live one year ago.

She said that the defendant was on a number of medications.

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The medications included liquid morphine which she was taking for the relief of pain.

Mark Stock, mitigating, said Parfitt had been moved onto Universal Credit and at the time of the offence had received no money for three weeks.

She said the theft was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

“She was about to leave the store without going through with the offence,” he said.

She was last before the courts for theft in June 2016, in Lincolnshire, Mansfield magistrates heard last Thursday.

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Passing sentence in the case, chairman of the bench June James-Barrett told Parfitt: “If this was a one-off, we would be inclined to go with your solicitor’s recommendation.

“But it isn’t, is it? You have a record of thefts in various counties.”

She was given a three-month curfew, which will be electronically monitored, from 8pm to 8am.

Parfitt was also ordered to pay £85 costs.