A WOMAN with 20 different debts has walked out of court with a further £170 owing after she was convicted of stealing Lynx deodorant and gammon from a town supermarket.

Natasha Hunt of Hatherleigh Court pleaded guilty to the single charge of theft from Morrisons on Dorcan Way on July 23 when she appeared in the dock before magistrates sitting in Swindon on Wednesday afternoon.

Crown prosecutor Keith Ballinger told the court she had been spotted concealing the Lynx deodorants and joint of gammon before leaving without paying. "She said she would have sold the items had she got away with them in order to make some money," Mr Ballinger said.

She was detained outside the store and the items were recovered.

Her defence, Esther Bisgrove told the court that Hunt owed 20 different debts to various lenders and was the registered carer of her partner and had her own medical difficulties. She urged the magistrates to deal with the matter by way of a conditional discharge in light of her circumstances.

But after hearing that Hunt had only attended 16 sessions out of a possible 43 on an existing community order the bench said they could not go with that recommendation.

Instead they imposed a 12 month community order on Hunt, who was crying in the dock, and ordered she pay £85 court costs and an £85 victim surcharge.