Three women from the Pembroke and Pembroke Dock area who went on a shoplifting spree in the lead up to Christmas have been charged in court.

Forty-year-old Jolene Hannaford, of The Green, Pembroke, pleaded guilty to four counts of theft when she appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court, on Tuesday, after stealing items from four different stores on October 3.

Her daughter, 20-year-old Tiegan Marie Price, admitted five charges of theft, while a third female, 30-year-old Emma Louise Price, of Arthur Street, Pembroke Dock, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft on October 1 at the same hearing.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that the first offence on October 1, involved the two younger defendants who were captured on CCTV stealing items of clothing from Peacocks in Milford Haven.

Two days later, on October 3, Mrs. Hannaford and her daughter Ms Price stole from four different stores - taking clothing and homeware to the value of £349.97 belonging to the Original Factory Shop in Haverfordwest; £45 worth of confectionary and household items from Poundland in Milford Haven, clothing and a soft toy worth £12 from Peacocks in Milford Haven, and a Hedgehog Zoomer toy costing £20 from Tesco in Milford.

Mr. Pritchard-Jones told magistrates that the mother and daughter were stopped at 12.40 pm in their vehicle by police who found a large quantity of goods in the boot.

“Most items were recovered and there are no claims for compensation. All three defendants have old minor cautions for shoplifting. What happened on this day, I’m not sure, they obviously decided to steal a lot of items together,” he stated.

Defence solicitor Katy Hanson told the court that the three women were all without money at that time and with Christmas coming up were worried.

“All three ladies are very remorseful and realise how stupid they’ve been.

“It was a couple of days of stupidity and madness, not to be repeated. All three defendants have some mental health problems in terms of suffering with depression,” she added.

Magistrates gave both Tiegan Marie Price and Emma Louise Price 12-month conditional discharges, and ordered them to each pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £20 victim surcharge.

Mrs. Hannaford, who magistrates said was considered the ‘ring leader’, was fined £80 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £30 victim surcharge.