A WOMAN who was addicted to heroin and crack cocaine from the age of 14 stole jewellery and money from her mother while she was holidaying abroad, a court heard.

Anne Mills had asked members of her family to keep an eye on her property and they became suspicious when they found an internal door open.

When she returned Mrs Mills discovered a £300 laptop, £100 cash, jewellery including wedding, engagement and eternity rings were missing, as well as two cheques from her cheque book, prosecutor Tom Holder told Southampton Crown Court.

Two days later, her daughter, Holly Mills, tried to cash some of the items at a pawnbrokers.

Mills, 22, of no fixed address, admitted burglary.

She further pleaded guilty to possessing more than £1,200 drug-related criminal property and supplying an undercover officer in a major anti-crime operation with heroin.

Judge Peter Ralls QC read a four-page impact statement from her mother in which she wrote of her devastation before giving her daughter a six-month suspended sentence with a two-year supervision which he said was in the public interest and to help her.

As Mills wiped away tears, the judge told her: “Keep out of trouble. This must have been heartbreaking for your mother and I can understand why she has reached the end of her tether.”

The judge ordered the drug money, which had been concealed in her bra and found at home, to be confiscated and given to her mother for the loss she had suffered.