TAKING a pile of clothes into the changing room at an outlet village store a woman removed all of the security tags and left without paying, a court heard.

Samantha Hardiman, 26, of Jefferson Avenue, Laindon, Essex, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft of clothing valued at £391 from the Nike Factory Store on May 23 when she came before magistrates sitting in Swindon on Wednesday.

The court heard from crown prosecutor Keith Ballinger that staff at the store had become suspicious of her behaviour and when they saw her leave the changing room with none of the items she had gone in with they began to investigate. In the changing room she had just left they found the discarded security tags from the items of clothing so pursued her. The police were called and she coo-operated with a voluntary interview.

She further admitted that by committing the offence she had breached a two-year conditional discharge imposed in August of 2014 for benefit fraud.

Her defence, Mark Glendenning told the court that his client had not gone into the store with intention of stealing and was not entirely sure why she had done it.

The magistrates imposed a fine of £90 for the theft charge along with a further fine of £90 for breaching her conditional discharge. She must also pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.