A persistent offender has been jailed after breaching a court order banning her from shops in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent.

Sophie Alcock, 25, from Bucknall, Stoke-on-Trent, was made the subject of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) in February last year after a successful police application to the North Staffordshire Magistrates’ Court.

The order, granted for a period of two years, prevents her from entering a number of named businesses in the Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme area, including Marks & Spencer, Home Bargains and Dunelm.

However, between Tuesday 3 December and Wednesday 18 December last year, officers responded to reports of Alcock shoplifting at Marks & Spencer, B&M and Dunelm, on Wolstanton Retail Park, Co-op stores on Barbridge Road and London Road, in Chesterton, and Handbridge Avenue, in Bradwell, and Home Bargains, on Newcastle Street, in Burslem.

A member of Home Bargains staff was also assaulted.

Alcock was sentenced to 11 months in prison when she appeared at Stafford Crown Court on Wednesday 9 April after pleading guilty to 22 offences at an earlier hearing – eight counts of breaching a criminal behaviour order, 11 counts of theft from a shop, two counts of attempted theft, and one count of assault.

She is also required to pay a surcharge of £187.

The sentencing is part of our broader county-wide efforts to crack down on anti-social behaviour (ASB) and retail crime.

We are using CBOs to tackle ASB, working with offenders to address their behaviour via support and advice from ourselves and partners.

If they continue to offend, we take more robust action.

PC Heather Bolam, problem solving lead for Newcastle local policing team (LPT), said: “Alcock’s criminal behaviour has had a huge impact on local businesses.

“The way she has harassed and caused distress to staff by targeting the same shops again and again is totally unacceptable and I hope that this sentence provides reassurance that we are working hard to target shoplifters.

“We remain dedicated to tackling ASB and its broader criminality, patrolling hotspot retail areas and using legislative measures, such as CBOs, to prevent crime, manage the behaviour of persistent offenders and in turn protect shopworkers and the wider public.”