Prolific thief, with 96 offences to her name, jailed for burgling two homes in Scarborough

Lisa Dawn Fisher, 33, broke into the first property in Washbeck Close by climbing through an open window, York Crown Court heard.

She stole the homeowner’s wallet, containing bank cards and cash, from the kitchen and took a laptop from a sofa in the living room, said prosecutor Austin Newman.

The laptop was later found in bushes just outside the living-room window.

However, Fisher, who had broken into the house with a named man, used the victim’s bank cards at West End service station, just around the corner from the burgled property.

She and her male sidekick spent just under £90 on the cards to buy food, alcohol, scratch cards and tobacco in two transactions, said Mr Newman.

The burglary occurred in the early hours of June 10 last year.

More than 12 months later, Fisher was still at large and broke into another home in Graham Close, on July 12 this year.

The victim and his family were staying at the home while on holiday in Scarborough.

“He heard a noise coming from the kitchen and went to find this defendant standing holding his wife’s bag and putting a watch inside it,” said Mr Newman.

“He challenged her and she immediately responded, ‘Sorry’.”

When the victim told her he was going to call police, Fisher pleaded with him not to.

“She said she had four children and would inevitably go back to prison,” added Mr Newman.

He said the victim later identified Fisher to police by her clothes and “distinguishable tattoo on her chest”.

Fisher, of Westbourne Grove, Scarborough, was arrested and brought in for questioning but initially denied being the burglar.

She later admitted both burglaries and appeared for sentence today after being remanded in custody.

The court was told about Fisher’s 20-year criminal history comprising 43 previous convictions for 96 offences including burglary, fraud and just under 50 thefts.

Her rap sheet also included obtaining property by deception, handling stolen goods and making off without payment.

In 2010, she received 12 months in a young-offenders institution for three burglaries.

She was convicted of burglary again in 2013 and yet another in 2021, when she was received a 16-month prison sentence.

She was released halfway through that sentence and was still on prison licence when she committed the latest offences.

Defence barrister Nick Peacock said that Fisher, a drug addict, had been trying to reform herself but “fell off the rails again” after her partner died in 2019.

She was now heavily pregnant and expecting a new child in March 2023.

Mr Peacock described Fisher - who following her arrest was recalled to prison to serve the remainder of her previous sentence for burglary - as a “vulnerable” woman who had been “led astray by others into drug-taking and has lost everything” including her home and her job.

He conceded that her record was “horrendous (and) appalling” but said her circumstances were “exceptional”.

Recorder Simon Jackson KC said Fisher had an “appalling” record which he described as a “cycle of continual offending”, notwithstanding the “tragedy” of her personal life.

Fisher received a 16-month jail sentence but will only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.