A POLISH nanny who went shoplifting within weeks of arriving in the UK was caught out by her dithering, a court heard.

Magistrates were told how 45-year-old Elzbieta Kopczynska was spotted by security officers in Marks and Spencer in Harrogate on October 1 repeatedly putting pasta in her bag and then replacing it on the shelves.

When they saw Kopczynska, of Hutton Gate, Harrogate, leave after paying for a children's book but not for a £4.99 jar of coffee, the officers followed her into Woolworth's where they watched her for 20 minutes.

Prosecuting, Mark Haigh said Kopczynska left with two CDs and two large boxes of fruit pastilles and was arrested outside.

Kopczynska told police she had handed over money in Marks and Spencer and had believed the cashier had accepted it in full pay- ment.

In Woolworth's she had become distracted by thoughts of her family back in Poland and had forgotten to pay.

Kopczynska pleaded guilty to two charges of theft at Harrogate Magistrates' Court.

Mitigating, Clive Farndon said that she had arrived in the town two months ago to work for a Polish family.

She was a woman of exemplary character, and could not explain her offending, but was sorry and ashamed.

Court chairman Charles Bailey conditionally discharged Kopczynska for six months and ordered her to pay £70 court costs.