Prolific shoplifter who converted aerosol can into flame-thrower avoids jail sentence
A crown court judge has appealed to a drug addict thief to "stop shoplifting" and take all the help that people who are "on her side" are trying to give her.
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Anne Boden, aged 47, appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Friday for sentencing on multiple counts of theft, criminal damage and one of having a knife in a public place.
One of her offences was of possessing an offensive weapon in Limes Walk, Oakengates, on January 10, 2023, when she had a "canister of aerosol spray which has been improvised into a flame-thrower".
She had admitted the charges at Telford Magistrates Court.
Judge Recorder Julian Taylor told the court that Boden, of no fixed abode from Telford, has an "appalling history of antecedents" with 55 convictions for well over 100 offences, many of them thefts.
Boden's latest list of admitted convictions has led to a psychiatric report and a pre-sentence report. One one occasion she had refused to come up from the cells into a court hearing.
Her list of offences also include possessing a large kitchen knife in Tan Bank on April 2, 2023, three counts of failing to surrender to police or court bail and criminal damage.
On April 2, 2023 she destroyed a £2,000 West Mercia Police window, and criminally damaged a marked police car to the tune of £500. On the same day she also caused £2,000 of paint damage to another car.
