Lyn Brind (48) was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £150 towards costs – and was told by a judge she probably would have been let off with a caution had she admitted the offence to police in the first instance.

Judge Daniel Worsley added: “If you had pleaded guilty at magistrates the costs would have been minimal but now the costs are £1,500. You have no money but you must pay something towards the costs.”

Brind, of 72 Saddlebow Road, denied stealing the pink mobile phone from Mandy Ellwood in Lynn on February 20.

Her daughter Laina Bunton (21), of Flat 5, Nelson Street, Lynn, denied she had then handled the stolen phone, and was found not guilty by the jury.

Nick Methold, prosecuting, said the phone was taken from Ms Ellwood’s hand by Brind as she was making a call to the police following a row. “She snatched the phone away from her and said ‘what has it got to do with you?’,” he added.