Worksop woman was ‘put under pressure’ to burgle Lego from house

CCTV showed Gemma Kinsella making "a number of trips to and from" a property on Cheapside, on the night of October 10, 2020, said prosecutor Fergus Malone.

Among the items that were discovered missing the next morning were a Lego set, an i-pad, an electric guitar case and car keys.

In a statement, Kinsella's victim said her teenage daughter was alone in the house at the time and she now worries about another break-in whenever she hears noises.

Kinsella told police she had been ordered to steal a bike from the address by someone who intimidated her, but went into the house when she couldn't find the bike.

"She felt awful about it afterwards," said Mr Malone.

He said that the defendant, now aged 39, has 33 previous convictions for 47 offences, primarily of theft.

In a separate incident, she was stopped near her then-home on Gladstone Street by a neighbour who recognised the leather handbag Kinsella was carrying as the one stolen from her home in a burglary carried out the week before, on September 8, 2019.

Kinsella claimed her brother gave her the bag, but it later emerged she made a £15 purchase using a bank card that had been in the bag.

Digby Johnson, mitigating, said most of her offending was related to alcohol, which she had managed to control between 2015 and 2019.

But the death of her child and her partner tipped her back into abusing drink and also using crack cocaine, he said. She had recently been assaulted by a criminal associate.

He said she had remained out of trouble after being released from 99 days of custody in February last year, and her future now looks "quite a bit brighter."

Kinsella, of Garside Street, admitted handling stolen goods, fraud and burglary.

On Wednesday, Judge Julie Warburton imposed a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, with drug and alcohol treatment as well as rehabilitation days.

"I hope you can extricate yourself from any relationships that are negative in your life," she said.