A FORMER supermarket employee from Ellesmere Port who stole from the store she was working at has been handed a 12-month conditional discharge.
Julie Haldon, 51, of Somerville Crescent, pleaded guilty to stealing an iPod, perfume, a DVD and a Nintendo game collectively worth £168.97 from the town’s Morrisons chain on December 5.
Prosecuting at Chester and Ellesmere Port Magistrates Court, Laurence Bestow said Haldon had worked at the store for six years before committing the theft, for which she lost her job.
She was leaving when she was stopped and searched by another member of staff and the police were called.
Steve Coop, defending, said it was ‘a bit of a lottery’ that Haldon had been charged for this offence, as many cases such as this one have been dealt with by the employee being cautioned.
Mr Coop added: “She has had to come to court for the first time in what was a one-off act and the whole experience has been demeaning and embarrassing.
“She had been facing financial pressures in the run-up to Christmas and accepts that she will now find it difficult to find employment now.”
Magistrates concluded they were going to take ‘the unusual step’ of handing Haldon a 12-month conditional discharge, plus £85 prosecution costs.
