A Canterbury woman has sensationally walked out of a luxury drugs rehab centre - where she had been sent instead of going to prison for four years.

Burglar Samantha Scott avoided the jail term after being offered a place on a 12 month course at a centre described as the “crème de la crème”.

But after just eight months at the Ley Community in Oxfordshire – and having started a relationship with a man she met there – the 27-year-old from Brymore Road quit her treatment.

Now the judge who gave her the opportunity ordered her back to Canterbury Crown Court for a showdown.

Judge Adele Williams told the tearful Scott – who was accompanied by her new boyfriend – that she faced an ultimatum: go back to the centre... or go to jail.

After admitting she was in breach of the court order made in November last year, the judge told her barrister Peter Alcock: “Your defendant has a choice and has a very important decision to make.

“I have read what she has said that she would prefer to go to prison rather than go back to the Community and that is exactly the choice that is facing her!

“She has a minimum three year prison sentence awaiting her – maybe more... not a matter of months.

“When I gave her the opportunity to go to the centre it was for 12 months not a period of her choosing!”

Judge Williams praised Scott for making “significant progress”
in tackling her drugs addiction during the eight month – but added:
“She would throw that all away if she does not return to complete
the programme.

“She faces the stark reality of an almost certain relapse if she
does not complete this section of the programme. It is not an
option for her to say she can do it in the community.

“She has formed a new relationship – that’s all well and good as
long as it doesn’t put her recovery in jeopardy.

“She has this attitude: ‘I know better than the professionals’ -
but she does not.

"The Ley Community is la crème de la crème of rehab centres and
has a high degree of success provided that the drug users stay for
the full 12 months. That’s the gold standard.”

The judge said that the risk would be Scott returning to crime
to fund her drugs habit.

“Six months down the line when householders have been subjected
to burglaries at the hands of this defendant, I would have failed
in my public duty to protect them.”

Mr Alcock said the new boyfriend was a “voluntary attendee” at
the centre to treat his drugs addiction.

Scott, who had a string of previous convictions including
robbery, theft, assault and shoplifting, had faced a mandatory
prison sentence for her third burglary.

Instead, the judge took the controversial decision to send her
to the luxury Ley Community drugs and alcohol rehabilitation centre
in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

After a 90-minute break for discussions with her lawyer, Scott
agreed to travel back to Oxfordshire... but only after she took a
drugs test!

The court heard she would be given funds to make the journey
after the centre agreed she could return to complete the
course.

Take a look at the Ley Community centre's facilities.