For five years, Kristina Roberts did not check the price on anything. It was not because she was made of money, but there was little point in knowing the price when she did not intend to pay.
Whether she needed cheese and washing powder to sell to the neighbours, or handbags and DVDs to sell on eBay, Kristina was so proficient at shoplifting she could have done it in her sleep.
The 40-year-old, of west Hull, hit the headlines last month after admitting making more than £10,000 selling stolen goods on eBay.
It all began when her partner of 16 years died in 2008.
"I needed a way to provide for my four children," she said.
"Craig was the main wage earner and when he was killed, it left me on my own with four children to feed and clothe.
"One day I was with a friend and she was already a shoplifter and I watched her do it and thought, 'that is so easy'.
"I did it for the first time and got a little buzz when I came out.
"You would then get home and take everything out of your bag.
"I could fill my fridge and I'd know the kids would be fine for a week.
"People found out I was doing it and would ask for things and it went from there."
Kristina quickly reached the point where she was addicted to shoplifting and believed she was invincible.
She said: "I didn't like doing it. I hated it. But I was doing it for my kids.
"Yes, you can survive on benefits, if you give your kids cheap food, but I wanted mine eating fruit and vegetables.
"I don't take drugs. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I wasn't doing it to feed a habit. I was doing it to provide for the kids.
"It was nice to take the kids out for tea or take them to the pictures.
"But I realise now that your kids don't need that, do they?
"All your kids need is you, your time with them."
Over the years, Kristina tried to stop, but every time something bad happened in her life, her shoplifting would spiral out of control again.
A year after losing Craig, she lost a very close friend.
"My brain burst, that sent me even lower. Then I was just starting to get back on track and I lost my dad," she said.
"He was not only my father but a father figure to my children and it just sent me into a whirl.
"Then I met Neil and I thought to myself, 'this is my chance to be with a good, honest, decent bloke and I don't have to do this any more'.
"But he had two heart attacks within three months and so wasn't able to work and I just shoplifted more."
Last July, Kristina appeared in the Mail after she was honoured with a commendation from the ambulance service for saving his life.
She said: "When I told my solicitor everything that had happened he said my life sounded like something from Emmerdale."
In court, the judge told Kristina he accepted she had misfortune in her life, but told her the suspended sentence he was handing to her was her very last chance.
"I was terrified I'd go down," she said.
"I'd sorted the kids out with somewhere to go.
"I could have handled prison. I'd have kept myself to myself and got on with it, but the kids need me. It frightened me and I've promised my family I'll never, ever do it again."
Desperate never to return to her life of crime, Kristina has begun restoring old furniture, bought legitimately from charity shops, before selling it on for a profit.
"Now I buy from charity shops or look on Gumtree," she said.
"I've only been doing it about six weeks, but it is keeping me out of the shops. It is giving me something to do. I love it.
"I sit down now and tell my children I'm really sorry.
"I know they know why I did it, but doing it makes me a bad mum."
Kristina was only caught when her sister photocopied a photo of her and distributed it to shops across the city, informing them she was a serial shoplifter.
She was recognised in Hobby Craft at Kingston Retail Park in Hull last October, and after a shop assistant called the police, she was caught red-handed.
Officers searched her car and found parcels ready to be posted – items she had stolen then sold on eBay.
Kristina admitted everything to the police and gave them the user names and passwords to her eBay accounts so they could see the full extent of her shoplifting.
"I can't thank my sister enough for what she did for me," said Kristina.
"If she hadn't done that, I probably wouldn't have been caught and I would probably still be doing it now.
"I didn't like doing it and I needed a reason to stop, and thinking I might be sent to prison has given me the wake-up call I needed."
'This is your very last chance,' warns judgeKRISTINA Roberts appeared at Hull Crown Court last month and pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and one of acquiring criminal property.
She entered these pleas on the basis that her total criminal benefit, which had been paid into her Lloyds Bank account by PayPal, was "about £10,000", which was accepted by the Crown.
The court heard she had been stealing on and off for about five years.
James Byatt, prosecuting, said there had been a "steady flow of items" passing through her hands as part of the scam, but this peaked last year.
Kristina was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
It was accepted by the court that she had led a normal life until 2008 when her partner died and her life had spiralled out of control.
Recorder Michael Smith said prison was appropriate for Kristina, but he said he was prepared to suspend the sentence because of her early guilty plea, her family and because of the letters he had received from her friends.
The judge told her: "Let me assure you this will be your very last chance."
