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JAILED: Prolific thief banned from Birmingham city centre

A prolific thief who preyed on female shoppers is back behind bars - and banned from Birmingham city centre for three years.

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Callous pick-pocket Iona Stephenson stole handbags from a mum with a pushchair and woman out with a terminally ill relative.

The career criminal with 70 convictions - including seven for theft, shoplifting and fraud since 2013 alone - was jailed for a year and three months at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday.

However, West Midlands Police also managed to secure a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) to prevent the 52-year-old entering streets in the city centre.

It stops her from going into areas inside the Queensway Ring Road including Bullring Birmingham, New Street station and Corporation Street for three years. She was also given a supervision order to include drug rehabilitation.

Stephenson, of Whitehall Road, Handsworth, stole a handbag which contained £170 from on top of a pushchair in Argos, Union Street, on 30 October last year.

The court was told it had caused financial hardship for the family which have an autistic child.

She also swiped a handbag with cash and personal belongings from a 64-year-old woman who was meeting a terminally ill family member in the Square Peg, Corporation Street, on 13 November - leaving her with no car keys to get home. She admitted the two charges of theft.

Pc Michael Ebanks, from Birmingham West and Central, said: " Stephenson has been a persistent criminal over not just years, but decades, to fund her drug habit.

"This was not the first time she has targeted a mum - who may have been distracted by her young child - and shows how far she will stoop.

"She has no regard for the victims she targeted or the trauma she caused them by stealing their money and belongings.

"The city centre is a positive, vibrant place which is welcoming for visitors; this jail term and CBO should serve as a warning that action will be taken against those who try to disrupt this."

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