A WOMAN who tried to hand herself into a Kent police station after she stole more than £3,000 was told to go away because there was no one available to see her.

Magistrates heard that Emma Lucas, who had gone to Canterbury police station, was instead told to go to Herne Bay because it was a bank holiday.

But when the 31-year-old, of St Louis Grove, Herne Bay, went there she was only able to speak to someone on a telephone – and they, too, told her to go away and come back.

Cath Wallen, for Lucas, told Canterbury Magistrates' Court that she was eventually able to speak to officers two days after trying to hand herself in.

The former supervisor at Sainsbury's in Chestfield, near Canterbury, confessed that she faked customer refunds and transferred £3,185 into her own account.

She claimed she was being blackmailed but never told police.

Lucas admitted theft and was given an 80-day suspended prison sentence with 12 months probation supervision. She must also do 180 hours unpaid work in the community and pay £60 costs.