A WOMAN stole £240 of underwear from Skipton shops because she needed the money to put down on a house, magistrates heard.

Leisa Persson, 41, took bras and knickers from Rackhams, and £36 of children's underwear from the Yorkshire Trading Company, the Skipton court was told on Friday.

She was ordered to pay £440 in fines and costs - including £180 in the new criminal courts charge, which came into effect in April.

The court heard Persson was stopped and searched by police after a member of Rackhams staff reported her to the town's Shopwatch scheme.

Persson, from Sun Street, Eastburn, was arrested and released on police bail on the condition that she did not return to the two shops, but she went to B&M Stores in Keighley just over a week later where she stole a further £103 of cosmetics and underwear.

All the items were recovered and returned to the shops in a saleable condition, the court was told.

Persson, who admitted two thefts on April 28 in Skipton and one in Keighley on May 7, had recently lost her house and needed to raise money for a bond to secure a new one.

The court heard in mitigation that she had also fallen back into over-drinking after a period of getting her life on track, and was a regular attender at Skipton horizons, formerly Craven Organisation for Drugs and Alcohol.

Her son had also agreed to lend her the money to secure a house.

Persson was fined £70 with prosecution costs of £170, a surcharge of £20 and criminal courts charge of £180.