A MOTHER was caught on camera selling cigarettes to young children during a covert surveillance operation.

Theresa Ann Searson, 44, admitted selling single cigarettes to youngsters from the doorstep of her flat in sheltered accommodation in Guisborough. She was prosecuted by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's Trading Standard's Unit at Guisborough Magistrates Court on Monday.

Searson, of Helmsley House, pleaded guilty to eight offences under the Children's Act 1933 - four of selling a single cigarette to a child under 16 and four more to selling a single cigarette to a child in the course of a retail business.

She was given a conditional discharge for two years and ordered to pay £800 costs to the council.

The court heard that a tip-off from the local housing warden sparked a surveillance operation by Trading Standards officers.

In mitigation, Searson told the court that she accepted responsibility and had taken over the sale and supply from her son. She pleaded not guilty to one offence of supplying a packet of cigarettes. The charge was dismissed.

After the hearing, Coun Joyce Benbow, cabinet member for community safety said: "People should be aware that the supply of tobacco to under-age children is an offence, even if you are not in trade."