A THIEF who used a baby buggy as cover for a planned shoplifting expedition was caught by store staff monitoring security cameras, magistrates in Harrogate heard yesterday.

Paul Watson, 23, from Barkston Grove, Chapelfields, York, travelled to Harrogate with another man and a woman - who was wheeling the buggy with two foil-lined bags attached to it - solely with the intention of shoplifting, said Stephen White, prosecuting.

But the trio attracted the attention of security camera operators in Woolworths, in Cambridge Street, who called the police, and all three were stopped as they left the store.

Watson pleaded guilty to going equipped for theft and obstructing police by giving a false name, address and date of birth.

He was conditionally discharged for a year with £50 costs. His solicitor, Martin Hawes, told the court that earlier this month, after admitting burglary, he had been made the subject to a two-year drug treatment and testing order by York magistrates, which "was working well".