CANCER victim Rebecca Thompson ended up hooked on heroin and spiralled into a life of crime, a court heard.

The 25-year-old, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at 15, appeared pale and thin as she faced Wycombe Magistrates Court on Monday.

She appeared for sentencing after previously pleading guilty to theft, possession of controlled drugs and breach of a conditonal discharge.

Peter Bird, prosecuting, told the court how on May 10 a worker at Tesco in Loudwater spotted Thompson at the meat counter stuffing £40 of meat into her bag and leaving the shop without paying.

She admitted the theft and the meat was recovered but she was in breach of a conditional discharge in relation to a drugs offence on November 20 last year.

The court was told how, on that day, Thompson was accused of stealing items from Woolworths in High Wycombe with a man.

She was arrested and the charges were dropped, but later the same day her car was searched and three small wraps of brown powder were found.

She had a previous offence of possessing the class A drug heroin from January this year.

On May 27 police went to her home in Cryers Hill Lane, High Wycombe, to arrest her on an unrelated matter and found a syringe containing heroin.

Geoff Payne, mitigating, said that in relation to the Tesco matter, Thompson had not stolen to fund her addiction but because she had a row with her mother.

He said she had been 'feeling suicidal' and did not know what she was doing. In relation to the possession of heroin, he said that the syringe had only contained about £5 worth of the drug.

He added: "She was trying to get herself off the drug and was gradually discarding it but couldn't bring herself to discard the final drugs she had."

Mr Payne told the court she had to go into hospital in her early teens when diagnosed with a form of cancer from which she still suffers.

She was told she had a 20 per cent chance of living which she never really came to terms with.

He said she got involved with a boyfriend who had laced her cigarettes with heroin then injected her and she became hooked.

Mr Payne said she had sought counselling and was currently on methadone to try to take some positive steps forward.

Thompson was sentenced to serve an 18 month Community Rehabilitation Order and ordered to pay £40 costs.