HARD-UP chemist's shop assistant Elizabeth Pullan pocketed £1,000 in takings, a court heard yesterday.

Pullan, 48, pleaded guilty at Harrogate Magistrates' Court to theft from Lloyds Pharmacy, in King's Road, Harrogate, between the beginning of October and March 3.

She was ordered to do 60 hours of unpaid community work and repay £250.

Peter Scott, prosecuting, said Pullan, of Kingsley Road, Starbeck, Harrogate, stole small amounts each time, but the discrepancies were spotted by a security manager, who ordered an investigation.

It became apparent that when Pullan was on holiday no money went missing.

She initially denied responsibility but when she later confessed, she asked: "Does my husband have to know?"

She told investigators money had been tight at home because she was the family's only breadwinner.

In mitigation, Yasmin Khan said Pullan, who had no previous convictions, had a partner, nine years older than her, who had not worked for many years. She also had parents in their seventies who had lent her money but who looked to her for help.

Mrs Khan said Pullan had worked for Lloyds for a year before her thefts began and earlier she had had a 22-year career with another chemist's chain.