A SINGLE mother, who almost ran down a police officer after shopworkers and police gave chase when she stole vodka from a supermarket, has been jailed for six months.

Shannon Bayliss-Cannon, 33, was spotted stealing three bottles of vodka by a member of the public in Safeway, Temple End, High Wycombe, on September 9 last year.

The police were alerted but Bayliss-Cannon drove off and an officer smashed her car door window with a baton after he had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit.

The defendant was only stopped when she collided with another car after heading round a roundabout the wrong way.

Bayliss-Cannon, who has had a £1,000 a week heroin habit, was sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on Thursday after having admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and theft.

Jane Alt, prosecuting, said that after her arrest Bayliss-Cannon had said she had taken heroin about 30 minutes before the theft.

She added that the defendant went on to weave in and out of heavy traffic and took a roundabout the wrong way and had a head-on collision with another vehicle, after which she was arrested after further struggling.

Miss Alt said the defendant blamed her heroin use for all the offences and the court heard she had previous convictions.

Jonathan Coode, defending, said Bayliss-Cannon, from Vicarage Road, Henley, had used drugs for 20 years and last summer had a habit costing her £1,000 a week.

Mr Coode said that Bayliss-Cannon was currently drug free after three weeks in prison on remand and he said that she wanted to get to a treatment centre to permanently cure her addiction.

Judge David Morton Jack said she would receive such assistance in prison and jailed her for six months in total and banned her from driving for three years.