A Spalding woman stole a handbag from a 79-year-old woman after she left it on a pew as she was taking communion in church, a court has heard.
Sally Ann Carpenter, 43, of Double Street, admitted theft of the handbag and £10 in cash when she appeared at Boston Magistrates Court.
Prosecuting, Jim Clare said the elderly woman attended the church of St Mary and St Nicholas in Spalding on the late morning of June 2 and left her handbag in her pew when she went up to take Holy Communion.
He said that when she returned to her seat, she sat and listened to the choir before she realised her bag had been stolen.
He said the vicar was told and he then examined CCTV images from the inside of the church and Carpenter was seen to go to the rear of the church during one of the hymns and was seen reaching over and taking the bag.
Mr Clare said a police search was undertaken and the bag was found in a litter bin.
He said Carpenter was interviewed and she admitted stealing the bag, saying she had heroin problems and mental health issues.
Mitigating, Jeffrey Lewis said it had ‘not been a planned offence’ and that she herself was a ‘extraordinarily vulnerable lady’ and did appreciate ‘the lady would have gone through an anxious period’.
He said she was at a ‘very low ebb’ and had tried to get money from other people without success so had gone to see the vicar but when she found he was in church, she went there to wait for him.
The magistrates said it was ‘difficult to find anything so distressing for a 79 year old lady’.
They ordered Carpenter to undertake a 12 months community order with a six months drug referral requirement, 10 days rehabilitation and 50 hours of unpaid work for the community.
She was also ordered to pay £40 compensation.
