A MOTHER was taken to court after she was captured by secret cameras selling cigarettes to children.

Theresa Ann Searson, 44, admitted selling single cigarettes to youngsters from the doorstep of her flat in sheltered accommodation in Guisborough, east Cleveland.

She was successfully prosecuted by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's trading standard's Unit, at Guisborough Magistrates' Court.

Searson, of Helmsley House, Guisborough, admitted eight offences under the Children's Act 1933 - four of selling a single cigarette to a child under 16 and four of 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 £800.63 costs.

The court heard that a tip-off from a housing warden sparked a covert surveillance operation by trading standards officers, which produced photographic evidence of the doorstep deals.

She pleaded not guilty to one offence of supplying a packet of cigarettes and this charge was dismissed.

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