remanded a heroin-addicted couple for a $7,000 cheque forging spree.

Senior Magistrate Will Francis ordered a social inquiry report on Denton Jermaine Parris and Jannika Nicole Burch after they pleaded guilty to stealing, forging, uttering, and obtaining goods by false pretences in September and October.

Parris, 28, of Cochrane Road, Sandys, and Burch, 21, of Nu-Castle Lane, Smith's Parish will return to court on March 22 for sentencing. Police prosecutor Phill Taylor told Mr. Francis the couple had admitted they each had a "very heavy heroin addiction'' and were not working.

Sgt. Taylor said Burch had stolen five cheques from Mrs. T's Victorian Tea Room where she was working between September 24 and October 15.

She forged Penelope Terceira, the owner's signature, wrote her own name, and then obtained a small number of goods and a large amount of cash from the Collector's Hill MarketPlace, Connections Boutique on Court Street, and the Sandys MarketPlace.

Burch gave two of the cheques to Parris who did the identical thing at Lindo's in Devonshire and at the Collector's Hill MarketPlace.

Burch also pleaded guilty to stealing Ivy Russell's handbag and purse with $30 on October 29 from the woman's shopping cart at Lindo's.

It was recovered in Lindo's later that day without the wallet, which was found in a garden in Devonshire. Several cheques were used at the Collector's Hill MarketPlace and the Shopping Centre on Victoria Street, where again the couple got a small amount of goods and a large amount of cash.

In all, Burch got away with $2,349 worth of goods and cash and Parris hauled in $774 in goods and cash. The pair asked that 31 other charges be taken into consideration for sentencing, which netted $7,191. None of the goods or money was recovered nor have the complainants been repaid. Burch asked to be placed in a heroin addiction programme.

"At the time it was all about supplying my habit,'' she said. "I didn't think about the consequences. I tried the methadone programme but they kept giving me all these excuses about not having any space.''