A THIEF who was chased from a sports complex by a group of bare-footed belly dancers has been sentenced to 113 hours of community service.

A THIEF who was chased from a sports complex by a group of bare-footed belly dancers has been sentenced to 113 hours of community service.

Elizabeth Fallon turned up at a dance session on crutches, claiming to be interested in joining the class when she recovered from a back injury.

But as the dancers went through their paces, the 47-year-old pocketed their purses and tried to make her escape halfway through the class.

She was chased by the dancers, and when instructor Joanie Ward stopped Fallon outside the complex, the pickpocket claimed it was her prosthetic leg that was causing her pockets to bulge and not the purses.

Fallon, of Glenavon Street, Maryhill, was convicted at Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday of stealing from the dance group at the city's Western Baths in Cranworth Street on January 25, 2006.

She was also found guilty of stealing purses from Glasgow's Southern General Hospital in September 2005, and Partick Community Association in January 2006.

Fallon's defence lawyer told the court that the thief had a history of drug addiction, but was now taking part in a programme to help her overcome it.