A JUDGE warned a thieving mother yesterday that if she offended again in the next six months he would lock her up and her children may be taken away.

Suzanne Allen, 23, who has three children and is five-months pregnant, was described at Teesside Crown Court as a professional shoplifter.

She stole a set of car keys from a handbag in a Hartlepool cinema and then took a car worth up to £10,000 which belonged to a local magistrate. It has not been recovered.

Two days after she appeared at Teesside Crown Court, she went shoplifting in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, and was back at court yesterday for sentence.

Paul Cleasby, mitigating, said: "For the first time in a very long time, she has managed to keep herself out of trouble, address her drug addiction, look at her accommodation and determine to change her life.

"Her risk of re-offending seems to be diminishing, according to a pre-sentence report."

But Judge Michael Taylor said: "The probation service have made a totally ludicrous suggestion that you be given a conditional discharge. It would be offensive to the public if I did that.

"There has come a time when the shopkeepers of the North of England need to be protected and she has got to have a warning that her conduct will not be tolerated."

The judge told Allen: "If you put your children at risk, you do it of your own volition.

"If you step out of line by one inch you are going to get 15 months from me with more added for any other offence.

"And doubtless, in my other duty as a care judge I will take your children into care."

The judge deferred sentence for six months on Allen, of Owton Manor Lane, Hartlepool, who pleaded guilty to theft and shoplifting.