A Templeton woman has been handed a 12-month conditional discharge after admitting shoplifting.
Forty-four-year-old Amanda Jayne Thomas, of Poyers Grove, pleaded guilty to two separate incidents of theft from the Boots store in Pembroke Dock, when she appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that Mrs. Thomas was caught on camera during the first incident which occurred on October 18.
“Staff realised that gift sets out on display in the store had gone missing, and after checking the CCTV system, the defendant was identified. A minimum of £150 worth of items was taken.
“On the second occasion, Mrs. Thomas entered the same store on December 27, put a number of items into her bag, and simply walked out and went into her vehicle.
“Her vehicle registration was taken and she was again identified on store CCTV and the police were called,” continued Mr. Pritchard-Jones, explaining that this time she had taken £24.79 worth of goods.
In a police interview, Mrs. Thomas said that she had limited recollection of both instances of shoplifting, as she was on medication and a high level of painkillers. The court heard that she had one previous caution on record for a similar matter in 2013.
Defence solicitor Mike Kelleher told the court that his client was on an enormous amount of medication and had been going through several difficult family issues at the time.
“She had taken oramorph as a painkiller and double of what she should have taken which led to her hallucinating and feeling dizzy. Mrs. Thomas has very little recollection of the thefts,” Mr. Kelleher told the court.
Magistrates handed the defendant a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered her to pay £174.79 compensation to the Boots store.
She was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £20 victim surcharge.