A shop assistant admitted stealing $126.40 worth of merchandise from her employer when she appeared at Magistrates? Court yesterday.

Myrtle Trott, 54, took a range of items from the People?s Pharmacy on Victoria Street, Hamilton. She was caught on cameras installed by her suspicious bosses.

The defendant, of Serpentine Road, Pembroke, pleaded guilty to three separate theft charges. Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney said that on May 26 she took $47.15 of goods including a large bottle of vitamins, three candy bars, a foot file, some cookies and a bath puff.

The following day, she stole items totalling $53.05 including two bottles of spray starch, another foot file, and a packet of fruit pastilles.

On May 29, Trott shoplifted $26.20 worth of stock including three bottles of Vitamin Water, a bag of chips and a magazine.

Mr. Mahoney said the defendant was escorted to the manager?s office on May 31 after being identified through the camera sting. At this point, she claimed to have receipts for the goods. However, she admitted taking most of the items in a subsequent Police interview although insisted she had paid for some of them.

Speaking in her own defence, Trott said she was sorry, and described her actions as ?out of character?. Defence lawyer Kenrick James said the defendant, who has no previous convictions, had lost her job as a result of the thefts.

?It?s a pitiful state of affairs,? he told Senior Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo.

Mr. Tokunbo sentenced Trott to a 12-month conditional discharge, saying: ?At this point in your life, and with no previous convictions, this was a grave blunder for you ? a blemish on your character.?

He explained that under the terms of her punishment, she will not have a conviction on her record as long as she stays out of trouble with the law for a year.