TWO women who formed a shoplifting team to attack stores in the Dudley and Wordsley areas have both been jailed for 16 months.

Wolverhampton Crown Court Judge John Warner said Daniela Brookes and Chloe Bird had a long list of previous convictions for stealing from stores and they had failed to respond in the past to the non-custodial sentences passed by courts.

He said: "These were planned, calculated and deliberate thefts from shops. You acted as a team to steal as much as you could carry. This was serious and persistent shoplifting."

And he ruled there was no alternative but to impose the longest prison terms they had faced.

Simon Hunka, prosecuting, said the pair from Netherton took tins of salmon and corned beef worth £65 from Dudley's B&M Store and £93 worth of meat from Sainsbury's Local, Lower Gornal. They also stole £65 worth of foodstuffs from a Spar store in Wordsley before taking £43 worth of cosmetics from Wilkinsons in Dudley.

Brookes, aged 40, of Cole Street, admitted four theft charges.

Bird, aged 28, of the same address, admitted two charges but asked for two other offences to be taken into consideration.

Mr Hunka said pregnant Brookes, who was expecting a child in August, had 52 previous convictions on her criminal record while Bird had 16 convictions.

Colin McCarraher, defending the pair, maintained they were now both making "great strides" in their bid to resolve their heroin addictions.