A SERIAL shoplifter from Dumbarton, who has just been released from prison, has been warned that any further offending will see her sent straight back to jail.

Kirsty McCurley targeted four separate shops in Dumbarton and the Vale over a three-week period in February and March of this year.

The Graham Road resident stole household items and toiletries from the Co-op store in Mitchell Way in Alexandria on February 18, and nicked more toiletries from the Boots branch in nearby Main Street on the same day.

She went back to the same Boots store and pilfered more toiletries five days later, and then, on March 11, stole groceries and more toiletries from the Co-op in Glasgow Road, Dumbarton.

McCurley appeared for sentencing at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Friday after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to four charges of theft by shoplifting.

Her not guilty pleas to charges of stealing items from four other stores - groceries from the John H. Glen and Son petrol station in Alexandria’s Main Street on February 17, household items from Kitchen Craft on the same street the next day, and more household items from the McColl’s store in the town’s Argyle Street on March 1 - were accepted by the Crown.

McCurley’s lawyer, Scott Adair, told the hearing that his client was due to be released within a few days from a prison sentence imposed for a separate matter earlier this year, but he said support would be waiting for the 33-year-old when she was let out of jail.

Sheriff William Gallacher agreed to defer sentence on McCurley until October 11 for a background report from West Dunbartonshire’s criminal justice social work team and an assessment of her suitability for a restriction of liberty order.

But he told her: “I want to see whether the community would benefit from you being given support.

“But I can tell you that if you’re involved in any further offending, the options will be zero.”