A BEREAVED mother went out thieving when she was put up to it by somebody who bribed her with mementoes of her dead little girl, a court heard.

Burnley magistrates were told how a former landlady of Jane Westby, 26, had kept the property and indicated to the defendant she would only return it if Westby stole some goods from B&Q.

Westby, of Gibson Street, Nelson, admitted theft of bathroom fittings worth £270 and was bailed until August 22 for sentence.

Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said Westby, who suffered depression, had found it difficult to get over the death of her two-year-old daughter Lauren and when she had moved, she had left some mementoes of the child with a former landlady. That woman was with her when she stole the bathroom fittings.

He added the defendant, who was being visited by a psychiatric nurse, may benefit from some form of court order that would help her and might assist her to cope in dealing with the difficulties of day-to-day life.