A woman who pleaded guilty to a robbery in Burnley failed to attend court for her sentencing.

Rebecca Oxley, 48, was due to appear at Burnley Crown Court on Tuesday (April 23) having committed the robbery in Burnley town centre on December 10.

On that occasion, she robbed another woman, Anne Chippendale, of cash.

At a hearing in January, Judge Daniel Prowse adjourned sentencing so a psychiatric report could be composed, and so the sentencing judge “has a full picture around her extensive mental health background.”

Oxley, of no fixed abode but previously of Smith Street, Nelson and Thorn Street, Burnley, failed to attend the sentencing hearing set by Judge Prowse.

Lancashire Telegraph: Rebecca OxleyRebecca Oxley (Image: Lancashire Police)

Her barrister, James Heyworth, said this was consistent with previous proceedings and had been told by previous barristers she “does dance to her own tune.”

Mr Heyworth invited Judge Ian Unsworth to adjourn the sentence one more time to give Oxley a chance to appear over a video link from prison, where she is remanded.

It was said should this fail then Oxley could be sentenced in her absence at the next hearing.

Judge Unsworth agreed to this and set a new sentence date of Tuesday, July 9.

Oxley has previous convictions for similar offences, including in March 2022 when she went into a 92-year-old man’s home and took cash to buy drugs for herself and her mother.

In 2012, she was jailed for four years when she pulled then-75-year-old Irene Bracewell to the floor and tried to run away with her purse during an incident in Nelson.

At that time, she had 58 previous convictions, mostly for theft, including robbing a 60-year-old man  and robbing a distant relative’s purse.