A FORMER school teacher from Craven Arms has admitted staying at two south Shropshire hotels and leaving without paying the bills.

Norma Hartley-Porter, 75, admitted two charges of making off without paying when she appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court last week.

The pensioner was said to have stayed at Affcot Lodge, off the A49 at Church Stretton, for several months two years ago. She was at the hotel between August and November 2017 and accrued a bill of £3,000 but left without making payment.

In February last year Hartley-Porter stayed at the White Horse Inn at Clun where the bill came to almost £700, but again she left without paying.

Judge Jonathan Gosling adjourned the case for reports until July 24 and said the defendant's previous convictions for dishonesty may well affect the sentence.

The court heard that it was Hartley-Porter's third conviction for dishonesty. In 2005 she was convicted of stealing £4,450 from a 64-year-old male friend by using his bank card and PIN number.

Then in 2011 the pensioner was jailed for eight months for stealing £7,683 from 94-year-old Christine Kermode between February 2009 and October 2010 while staying at a former hotel owned by the victim.

At the same time she had kept several of her pets in kennels across the county and never paid the bills, which totalled more than £8,500.

Hartley-Porter, of Brooklands Park, Craven Arms, who represented herself at last week's hearing, was allowed bail.