CHRISTMAS thieves face receiving a bill in the post as stores strike back at shoplifters.

Mother-of-two Karen McDonagh, 37, stole £14.43 of cosmetics from Superdrug and, although they were recovered, she was made to pay £95.

She was sent a bill from Retail Loss Prevention which said it was "seeking to recover the money and costs".

She paid up before she appeared in the dock at Teesside Crown Court, where she admitted the September 22 theft from the store in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

The demand she received from Retail Loss Prevention gave her 21 days to pay £95 or face a compensation claim in the county court.

It said that the bill was to cover management time and surveillance, adding "you caused loss to our client by taking goods".

A store detective swooped on her and in her bag she also had a stolen nightdress and jumper, worth £5.08, from a Help the Aged shop and a £5 scarf from a Mackays store.

Lorraine Mustard, mitigating, said: "She can offer no explanation why she committed these offences."

She is currently on a training course to become a drug outreach worker or a mentor.

McDonagh, of Lydgate Avenue, Bishop Auckland, breached a suspended jail sentence of two years for drug offences in 2003.

Fining her a total of £150, the judge said: "I think it would be unjust to impose the two-year sentence, which was for a much more serious offence."