A WOMAN who was put under virtual house arrest until she got treatment for her alcoholism escaped from her home alone on Tuesday – and on Wednesday magistrates remanded her in custody. The shop keepers of Chatteris have the right to go about their daily

A WOMAN who was put under virtual house arrest until she got treatment for her alcoholism escaped from her home alone on Tuesday - and on Wednesday magistrates remanded her in custody.

"The shop keepers of Chatteris have the right to go about their daily business without watching you steal their goods," Rosemary West was told by presiding magistrate Michael Allen.

The court heard that West's family had been unable to raise the £7,200 needed to get her immediate private detoxification treatment, and the waiting list for NHS treatment was between four and six weeks.

Fifty-four-year-old West, of London Road, Chatteris, had previously admitted stealing three offences of stealing alcohol from shops in Chatteris.

Last week West was given a 24-hour home curfew, and told she could only leave the house accompanied by her husband Michael, or to go for detoxification or on holiday. But on Tuesday afternoon she went into Chatteris town centre, so breaching her bail.