THE son of a former police officer appeared in court yesterday to plead guilty to shoplifting.

Martin Butterworth, prosecuting, told magistrates in Harrogate that Daniel James Catchpole had walked out of TK Maxx in the town's Victoria Centre on January 3 with a £79.99 digital camera.

And although security staff had lost sight of him before calling police, he returned an hour later still carrying the camera.

In mitigation David Camidge said Catchpole, 21, of Albert Street, Harrogate, had moved to the town, where his father lived, from Essex as part of his successful efforts to overcome a drugs dependency.

Mr Camidge said Catchpole had gone into the store with the intention of spending vouchers there and had succumbed to a spur-of-the-moment opportunity.

He added it had been an isolated incident against the background of progress Catchpole had made in overcoming his problems, which had included sorting out debts of £2,500 resulting from his addiction. Court chairman Canon Keith Punshon told Catchpole the court considered his offence to have been a one-off lapse.

He said: ''We are going to go with that instinct. It is up to you not to let yourself down in the future.'' Catchpole was fined £75 and ordered to pay £50 costs.