A CARER who walked out of Keelham Farm Shop in Skipton with £112 of unpaid goods, including a £36 bottle of gin, and strawberries, has been found guilty of theft by magistrates.

Gillian Wearmouth, 55, spent around 20 minutes in the Gargrave Road store at around 5pm on May 18 selecting items also including fillet steak, asparagus and bunches of flowers, before walking out without paying, the Skipton court heard.

She was stopped by a member of staff unloading the trolley into her VW Beetle parked in a parent and child space and taken back inside, where she offered to pay.

Wearmouth, of Bainbridge Wharf, Farnhill, who had earlier been drinking red wine, was taken upstairs to the managers' office and the police were called.

She was charged with theft and also to being drunk in charge of a vehicle, after officers were warned about her apparent state by members of staff. Officers following her out to the car park found her sitting in her car, drinking wine from a three litre wine box and with the keys in the ignition.

Wearmouth, who had earlier admitted being drunk in charge of a vehicle and sentenced, but not guilty to shoplifting, told the court she remembered little about visiting the store but that it had not been her intention to steal.

She said she had been working in the morning, that she had argued with her employer and that she had gone to the Craven pool to have a swim. She had finished her swim at about midday and returned to her car, where she had spent a couple of hours sending text messages and drinking wine, using a flask cup.

Keith Blackwell, in defence, said Wearmouth was going through a difficult time and was on medication for depression. He said she could have paid for the goods, had offered to do so and was in the process of paying when the transaction had been stopped by one of the store managers The court heard it was a policy of the store to prosecute shoplifters.

But magistrates said Wearmouth had acted dishonestly and would have driven off without paying had she not been stopped by a member of staff.

She was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £400 costs and £20 surcharge.