A prolific thief has been jailed again after fraudulently using a man’s bank card at a convenience store in Northallerton.
Melissa Duncan, 39, tried to make contactless payments on the victim’s debit card without his knowledge at the Asda Northallerton Express store at the service station on Darlington Road.
The offences occurred on December 28, just four days after the criminal had burgled two homes in the town on Christmas Eve.
Duncan, of Crossbeck Road, Northallerton, appeared for sentence at York Magistrates’ Court today for two counts of fraud by false representation, namely using a debit card that did not belong to her, intending to cause a loss to the named victim.
Mr P Clarkson, chairman of the magistrates’ bench, told Duncan she had caused “considerable distress and upset” to the victim.
He added: “Your previous history of offending aggravates the seriousness of (the offences).”
Duncan, a mother-of-two, received a 12-week jail sentence but Mr Clarkson said this would be concurrent with the 45-month prison she received in June for the Christmas Eve burglaries.
That sentence was imposed at York Crown Court after Duncan admitted the burglaries which included the theft of precious family jewellery and Christmas presents after breaking into a poorly couple’s home in Ivy Cottages, near Malpas Road, when they were out walking their dog.
Duncan stole £500 of jewellery and a gift bought by the male victim for his wife. She also took their prescription medication and, bizarrely, left dog biscuits on their sofa.
The female victim later suffered a hypoglycaemic attack, resulting from low blood-sugar levels, due to the shock of being burgled in broad daylight.
The stolen medication, which were in several pillboxes, were found in a carrier bag outside the home of Duncan’s second burglary victim, who was also targeted on Christmas Eve morning very shortly after the raid on the couple’s house.
She broke into that man’s home, off Malpas Road, while he was sleeping. After being woken by noises inside his home, he went to investigate and found Duncan in his kitchen.
She managed to escape out of the front door while screaming abuse at him, but he stopped her stealing a “large amount” of coins he kept inside a tub which Duncan had placed inside a carrier bag containing the jewellery, medication and other items stolen from the couple’s home.
She then turned up at her former partner’s home in Springwell Lane, Northallerton, where she stole £40 from his wallet inside his bedroom.
Later the same day, she tried to stop police arresting her by “pulling out a knife and threatening to harm herself”.
She had over 70 previous offences on her record including many burglaries, drug crime and theft.
In 2018, she was jailed for over two years for burgling the homes of a deaf, 98-year-old woman and a young man in a wheelchair in Upwell Road and Springwell Lane.
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