A YOUNG mother invented a new identity for herself after she was repeatedly caught shoplifting to feed her heroin addiction, a court heard.

Kerry Parfitt, 24, spent two periods in police cells posing as Kelly Reeder.

But when "Kelly Reeder" failed to turn up for her court dates, the police tracked down Parfitt, said Michael Wilson, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court.

Parfitt told them she had numerous offences in her own name and had feared being remanded in custody.

Parfitt, of Warwick Street, South Bank, Middlesbrough, had been clean of drugs since last October, Judge Peter Armstrong was told.

She was given a two-year community rehabilitation order with a condition that she attends a Think First programme, after she pleaded guilty to two charges of perverting justice and three charges of stealing clothing worth a total of £460 from Marks & Spencer and Wilkinson's, in February last year.