A LOCAL woman has been ordered to undertake 40 hours of unpaid work after being found guilty of stealing a trolley load of shopping from Abergavenny's Aldi store.

Jade Jones, aged 24 of Derwen Way in Abergavenny appeared at Cwmbran Magistrates Court on a charge of stealing goods to the value of £109.47 from the supermarket.

Mark Salter, prosecuting, explained that at lunchtime on Monday, April 15 Jones and another woman were spotted leaving the Aldi supermarket in Monmouth Road without paying for the items.

He added: "They were followed to the nearby Swan Hotel in Cross Street where Jones parked the shopping trolley in the hotel's smoking shelter.

"The police responded to a call notifying them of the incident and arrested Jones and Karen Bussey who were then taken away for questioning."

Solicitor Andrea Harding, defending said in mitigation that Jones denied any pre-meditation over the theft and explained that the goods were recovered and returned to the supermarket.

In court Jones pleaded guilty to the offence. Bussey had already been found guilty of the same offence, which had been considered recently in connection with other offences and she is now serving a lengthy prison sentence.

The court was then told that Jones had been convicted recently for handling stolen goods - the latest offence in January this year.

District Judge David Parsons said: "It is only a matter of weeks since you have received two convictions for dishonestly handling stolen goods.

"This is a serious incident of taking a whole trolley load of goods from a store without making any offer of payment.

"We've already identified that this is a lot more serious than what you have been convicted of before, especially as this theft has a degree of professionality about it."

He warned Jones: "Your criminal record is escalating at an alarming rate."

He ordered her to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work and to pay £85 towards court costs and a £65 victim surcharge.