A teenager who was locked up for stealing a television from a shop during Wolverhampton riots has failed to get her sentence reduced – and lost the right to keep her identity a secret.

Annabel Heys, 18, has served two months of a 10-month term for burglary but asked a judge to reduce the sentence, saying it had been a “horrible experience”, but Judge John Warner said her appeal had “no merit at all” during a hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday.

The teenager, who was 17 when she was convicted and therefore could not be identified in the press, can now be named because court restrictions to protect her identity no longer apply.

She had walked out of Sunitek.com in Broad Street, Wolverhampton, with the £500 TV and was caught the next day in A&E at New Cross Hospital being treated for cuts caused by broken glass, the court heard.

The business faced £60,000 in losses after the riots and the owners have since struggled to make ends meet, Mrs Joanne Barker, prosecuting, said.

Heys, an A-level student at Wolverhampton College, had not intended to get involved, the court was told.

But as the disorder broke out, she became “drawn in” as no buses were running for her to get home.

Heys, of Holloway Drive, Wombourne, said she was pushed into the shop and then carried the TV a few yards before leaving it with a friend.

During yesterday’s appeal hearing, Judge Warner was asked to consider freeing her in time to return to college next week for an open day to sign up for her next year of study.

Mr Tariq Shakoor, defending, said she had been badly affected by her mother’s death two years ago was “deeply ashamed” of her actions. Heys had a chance of going to university to study English or maths and had no previous convictions, he added.

But Judge Warner told her: “I am in no doubt whatsoever that the sentence should not be reduced. Given the sort of sentences that have arisen from these events, it could have been much longer, but as an act of mercy, I will not extend it.

“The appeal is refused as there is no merit in it at all.”

By Adam Burling