AN off-duty policewoman spotted a regular offender stealing clothes from a high street shop, a court was told yesterday.

PC Angela Turnbull had dealt with Jason Hoggarth for four or five years and became suspicious when she saw another man give him a pile of green combat trousers that were still on their hangers.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the men ran out of the Dorothy Perkins shop, in Westgate, Guisborough, and PC Turnbull informed the police.

Hoggarth, 20, claimed initially that it was a case of mistaken identity, and the trousers were not recovered.

But yesterday Hoggarth, of Co-operative Terrace, Loftus, pleaded guilty to stealing eight pairs of trousers worth £212. Katharine Dunn, in mitigation, said Hoggarth was a heroin addict but he had not taken the drug since November.

She said that he had secured his first job and the support of his family.

Hoggarth was given a 12-month drug treatment and testing order, and ordered to pay £212 compensation and £720 prosecution costs.