A YOUNG Sawbridgeworth mum claims she reluctantly acted as a "look-out" when the man she was with broke into a florist.
Jane Huntly, 26, was said to have had no idea her male companion was about to break into the shop when he pulled up in his car.
But as Huntly stood outside the shop in the early hours of January 2 this year, witnesses were woken by the sound of the burglary and called the police.
It landed her in the dock at St Albans Crown Court today (Tuesday, January 24) when she appeared for sentence for one offence of burglary at the shop called Lily the Pink in Stanstead Abbotts. She was also in breach of three separate suspended prison sentences.
Geoffrey Porter, prosecuting, told the court it was around 3am in the morning when two residents were disturbed by the break-in.
Huntly was seen at one point to stand outside the shop and inside a torch light could be seen flashing.
Entry to the shop had been gained by smashing a front door pane of glass but, despite an untidy search, nothing was taken.
Police were called and Huntly and the man were arrested a short while later. Police found the torch, gloves and a crowbar in the vehicle.
The court heard Huntly, of Kecksys, had convictions going back to June 2002.
But more recently, she had suspended prison sentences from both St Albans and Chelmsford Crown Courts.
Her brief Carl Woolf said she had drug problems in the past, but was now "clean".
Judge Stephen Warner told Huntly he was going to defer sentence for six months to see if she was truly committed to staying out of trouble. She will return to court on July 18.
