A PSNI officer jailed for six months for shoplifting is seeking leave to appeal her sentence.

Linda Totten (50), whose address was given as Enniskillen PSNI station, had strenuously denied shoplifting from her local Asda store on two occasions in December 2013.

However, she was found guilty by the jury at her second trial at Dungannon Crown Court at the end of November last year.

The jury at her first trial had been unable to reach a verdict.

Sentencing Totten at Armagh courthouse last month, Judge Neil Rafferty QC told her that while the public expected those entrusted to uphold the law, she had brazenly gone into the Enniskillen store “to steal”.

“This is mature woman who deliberately and with premeditation went to that store to steal and did so on two occasions,” said the judge, who added, given her police service and medical condition, he would temper justice with mercy.

“Nevertheless it is my view that the offending in this particular case was so serious, so premeditated and so culpable that only an immediate custodial sentence will suffice,” said Judge Rafferty.

Totten had 28 days from her sentencing in which to apply for permission to appeal the six-month jail term.

The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) this week confirmed that an application for leave to appeal against the sentence was received on March 1.

The case is now listed for hearing in the Court of Appeal, which sits in the Royal Courts of Justice, in Belfast on March 21, although the NICTS has said that this date is subject to change.