Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard how Victoria McKay, 28, and a co-accused carried out the theft at Sandy Row Methodist Church in the capital on 7th October last year.
A woman attending the Sunday service left her handbag unattended beside her chair while she went to get lunch being served.
When she returned her bag, containing her purse, cash and cards had vanished.
Police found and arrested the suspect and her male accomplice a short time after the pair was seen leaving the church by a witness.
She handed the bag and its contents to the police.
District Judge Paul Copeland told McKay she deserved to be imprisoned.
“It was mean, it was planned, it was a breach of trust,” he said.
“You are a convicted thief, a persistent thief and a remorseless thief.
“You took advantage of a trusting and innocent member of the public who was at a church service, a respectable individual who the right and expectation to trust those around her.
“But you weren’t there for any good reason, you were there to steal what you could, and that’s exactly what you did.”
While McKay has been sentenced to six months jail time, Mr Copeland agreed to release her on bail pending an appeal against the sentence.
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