A tearaway daughter who burgled her own parents' home three times has finally been locked up – for shoplifting!
Jennice Lynch, 20, was repeatedly let off by judges despite waging a campaign of spite against her parents. She burgled their home in Haslingden, Lancashire, three times in a month, stealing a gold and diamond bracelet plus a £4,000 Jaguar watch.
However, four weeks after being given a suspended sentence, the single mum-of-two went shoplifting – and has now been jailed for six months after shoplifting wine, beer and spirits.
Unrepentant, she told the court she did it because she wanted to go to prison, adding: "I fancy a roof over my head and three square meals a day."
Burnley Crown Court had heard that her parents, Ruth and John, had been deliberately targeted by her - even though they had tried to help her financially, bought her a flat and looked after her two young children.
She would invade her parents' £300,000 rural home in Whitworth, Lancashire, when they were out. In one break-in, her own children's toys were showered with glass and had to be thrown away.
The desperate parents told police they were disgusted with their daughter's behaviour and called for her to be locked up and said they had never had any problems with any of their other children.
But last March she was given a 22-month prison term suspended for two years after she admitted three burglaries.
At the time, Mrs Lynch said: "The suspended sentence was a joke and she will see this as a reason to do it all again.
"It will either be us or someone else she knows. Most people would be ashamed of themselves if they behaved this way but not our daughter.
"She is uncaring and cold and it's about time she got severely punished, because she needs a wake-up call. Anybody who she comes into contact she falls out with because something has gone missing.
"We've tried to help her, teachers have tried to help her, and psychologists have tried to help her. But it's been no use. The thieving has gone on for donkeys years, and going to court was our last resort - we just couldn't go on."
Just weeks after the suspended sentence was imposed, Lynch stole cider, wine, lager, Malibu and vodka from four shops in Bacup, Lancashire between April 14 and May 4.
Sentencing, Judge Jonathan Gibson said she clearly had 'multitudinous problems', but had left him with little option. He said the final theft was committed after he gave her a last chance to comply with supervision. She will serve her sentence in a Young Offender Institution.
The judge added: "In effect, by committing that offence and attending only two supervision appointments, you have really thrown back at me the opportunity I gave you. It's inevitable a custodial sentence must follow."