London: An Indian-origin shoplifter in Leicester has been forced to pay 365 pounds for a tie worth 14 pounds after CCTV cameras caught him trying to walk out of a store with the tie in his pocket.
Shoplifter Darshan Singh had more than 500 pounds in his pocket in cash when he walked out of the Debenhams store in Leicester with the tie in his pocket. He was shopping with his family before leaving for India to attend a wedding. The Leicester Crown Court was told that Singh, 43, was caught on CCTV moving a tie from a shirt display.
Minutes later, he returned to the store and put the tie in his pocket and walked out.
When a security guard ran out to accost him, Singh insisted he had paid for the item and his wife refused to hand over her bag, which had the tie inside.
After pleading guilty, Singh was given a 28 pounds fine and ordered to pay 200 pounds costs. He already had to pay 137.50 pounds as compensation to the store.
Jagvir Sangherra, defending lawyer, said Singh had been struggling with money.
He said, "He had been saving up for a family trip to India for quite some time. Due to the wedding of a relative, he had to provide gifts and came back in debt. He was under a lot of stress and has never done anything like this before."
Judge Philip Head told Singh, "There was no need for you to commit this act of shoplifting. An offence of greed and dishonestly such as this needs to be met with a fine".