Prolific Nottingham thief has 135 court appearances to her name

A prolific criminal has 135 court appearances to her name for 332 offences.

Linnette Burton’s latest bout of offending saw her target shops in Nottingham city centre and twice burgle student accommodation in Radford.The 41-year-old thief took designer handbags, sunglasses and perfume from the shops and stole clothes and a TV when she got herself into the Orbital Housing block in Ilkeston Road.Jailing her for a total of 20 months for her latest offences, Judge Julie Warburton said: “You have a prolific record for offending in the same way or a similar nature with 135 appearances for 332 offences of which a significant number are for thefts.

“I accept your main mitigation is your guilty plea and you have plainly been trapped in a lifestyle which has left you entrenched in a pattern of offending over many years.“You had a difficult and traumatic childhood but you are now an adult and if you continue to offend you will continue getting custodial sentences.“The only person who can change that is you.”Lucy Thandi, prosecuting, said the seven most recent offences all happened in Nottingham over a six-week period in the summer.

She said on June 2, Burton, also known as Lynette Burton, walked into John Lewis in the Victoria Centre and stole two pairs of sunglasses worth a combined total of £620.The prosecutor said five days later the defendant carried out a similar theft at the same shop and on July 9, she entered Flannels, in Lister gate and stole a designer handbag worth £1,400.

Miss Thandi said the two burglaries at orbital House happened on July 9 and 17 and two more shop thefts happened at TK Maxx and John Lewis, on July 13 and 17.The defendant, of no fixed address, appeared for the hearing at Nottingham Crown Court over a video-line from HMP Foston Hall.

In 2019 she was handed a prison term at Derby Crown Court for the Fruit Pastilles drug-smuggling ruse which happened at the same prison.She pleaded guilty to five counts of theft and two counts of burglary.

Philip Plant, mitigating, said: “She is realistic, she’s not sought a pre-sentence report, she knows given her record custody is the inevitable outcome.

She is homeless, she struggles with a class A drug addiction and lives a chaotic lifestyle borne from her traumatic childhood experiences.”

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