A MUM of eight has been jailed for five months for stealing 14 credit cards to feed her children.
Desperate housewife Shona Waugh, 37, nicked cards from her neighbours in Dalkeith near Edinburgh.
But rather than go on a spending spree for herself, she bought hundreds of pounds worth of food in supermarkets to feed her massive family.
The single mum was jailed after pleading guilty to ten charges including the thefts of bank cards and using them to pay for goods in shops.
Waugh took the cards from neighbours on January 6 last year and used them the next day to buy shopping from her local Tesco totalling £234.59.
Later the same day, she went to an Asda at Edinburgh’s Jewel area and spent £337.07 with the cards.
All shopped-out, Waugh said caring for her children left her “drained.”
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard she was “under significant financial pressure” and felt the need to steal just to get by.
Her defence agent Elspeth McDougall said her past offending “caught up with her” and she paid the price by losing custody of her children.
She said: “She was under significant financial pressure and that is reflected in the fact that these charges relate to buying groceries for the family from Tesco and Asda.”
Sheriff Raymond McMenamin told Waugh he would have sentenced her to six months in prison, but for her plea at an early stage.
He said: “I’m genuinely sorry to know of all your difficulties in the past but you can’t tackle them with criminal behaviour.”
