A PARK North man stole designer bedding to try and clear the debt he owed someone, a court has heard.

Christopher Rimes, 36, was captured on CCTV going into the bedding section at Homesense in Greenbridge Retail Park before taking off the tag to DKNY bedding worth £119.97 and slipping the goods inside his jacket.

Pauline Lambert, prosecuting, told Swindon Magistrates Court: “The bedding has not been recovered and he said he owed money to another and used the goods as a form of payment.”

Rimes, of Radstock Avenue, pleaded guilty to the theft which took place on March 18.

Gordon Hotson, defending, told the magistrates: “I would ask you to give my client credit for his early guilty plea.

“He is a man who has had a number of convictions for theft in the past. He was in the grip of an addiction which he has got rid of successfully.

“He went to rehab for his drink issues but had a relapse because of a family bereavement but since then he has successfully cleaned himself up and got himself dry off his own back with no support.

“He has also managed to keep himself away from drug use for a long time. He is six weeks without alcohol and is doing much better.

“He needed to pay off a debt and was being badgered so he took the bedding to discharge his debt. He knows this was a very foolish thing to do.”

Chairman of the bench June May ordered Rimes to pay a fine of £40, £119.97 in compensation and a £20 victim surcharge.