AN alcoholic woman who stole two dogs said she wanted to "love" them.

Donna Jeff, of Ringwood Road in Poole, took advantage of another woman's illness to steal her beloved cockapoo Sophie under the guise of helping her out, a court heard.

She had befriended the dog's owner Jeanette Sansome over drinks at Bournemouth’s German-style Christmas market on Sunday, November 27, 2016, before the pair moved to the The Moon in the Square pub.

There, at around 11.30pm, Ms Sansome suffered a fit and paramedics were called.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard Jeff, 53, had picked up Sophie and her companion's purse in a bid to keep them safe, but then decided to keep them for herself.

Judge Peter Crabtree OBE said: "I accept that you did not plan the offence from the start, that you did not deliberately target Ms Sansome.

"Your explanation is you were trying to help then took advantage of a woman in a vulnerable position."

He said the dog was of "substantial value" to the victim. "Beyond the £400 Ms Sansome says she paid for her, she was extremely important as she relied on her in light of her mental health issues.

"The loss of that dog caused her real emotional trauma."

On Friday, December 9, 2016, Sophie was found outside Hamworthy Library, and reunited with her distraught owner.

The court heard Jeff had initially denied the charge of theft and, at Poole Magistrates Court in October last year, opted for trial.

However the following month Jeff stole another dog, a Jack Russell cross called Duke, from a car in Parkstone.

The owner reported Duke missing on doglost.co.uk and Facebook, and within 24 hours they were reunited. A neighbour had spotted Jeff with the dog in her garden and grown suspicious.

In mitigation, Victoria Hill said her client had said, when asked by police why she had stolen Duke, she had no recollection of the theft, but she intended to "love it".

She said Jeff was seeking help to counter her alcoholism, and despite some past offences of dishonesty had recently spent a 10 year period out of trouble.

The court heard Jeff suffered with depression, Hepatitis C and fibromyalgia, and was a victim of domestic abuse which had seen a non-molestation order taken out against her partner.

She admitted two counts of theft, as well as fail bail.

Judge Crabtree imposed a five year prison sentence suspended for 12 months, with a rehabilitation course requirement.