Chesterfield woman smashed shop window with a brick and stole Macmillan collection tin containing £40

Marie Godfrey smashed the window of the Bolsover Fruit and Veg store, in Town End, on April 6 and cut her hands in the process, Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court was told on Thursday, October 8.

Prosecuting, Sarah Haslam told the court: “She smashed the window with a brick and stole a charity collection tin destined for Macmillan. There was also blood all over the till, which had been moved. It cost the shop’s owner £200 to get the window boarded up.”

Godfrey, 33, of Wren Park Close, Grangewood admitted burglary when she appeared before the court.

Mitigating, Kirsty Sargent said: “Since April she has made good progress with her lifestyle. She had been homeless for about four-to-five months, she had no income and she was using heroin. She was given a place in a hostel, as all people were during Covid, and she is now living with a friend.”

Sentencing Godfrey to a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, District Judge Jonathan Taaffe said: “You have smashed the window of a shop and stolen charity donations for people in desperate need of care.

“You have done it without any thought for the shopkeeper, you have done it without any thought for yourself, and you have done it without any thought for those people who rely on the heroes on the Macmillan Cancer Trust.”

He also placed her on a six-week curfew and ordered her to pay £250 in compensation.

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