A MOTHER who stole almost all of a vulnerable woman’s possessions when they were living in the same hostel has been jailed for three months.

Tia Wilkinson of no fixed abode appeared for sentencing at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court today (December 18) having previously pleaded guilty to burglary.

Prosecutor Blair Martin said the 30-year-old, who originally comes from the Seaham area, was staying at the 700 Club on Grange Road in Darlington, which provides temporary accommodation for vulnerable people.

He said the victim had left her flat in a hurry at about 5pm on October 9 leaving it unlocked.

Mr Martin said Wilkinson and another man who has denied the offence then went in and stole clothes, a mobile phone, £70 cash, toiletries, a music system with speakers and a set of headphones.

The prosecutor said: “Virtually everything this woman owned was removed from her room and never recovered.”

Clive Booth, in mitigation, said his client accepted she would go to prison.

He said she has three children who still live in Seaham and that she moved to the Darlington area to escape domestic violence.

Mr Booth said after breaking up with her children’s’ father, she got into a volatile relationship that forced her to leave the Seaham area.

Magistrates sentenced her to 12 weeks in prison with a further day to be served in lieu of £100 fines and costs she owed to the court from a previous conviction.