A MOTHER-OF-TWO was arrested for shoplifting after using her child's pushchair as cover while she stole a Christmas present for her boyfriend.

The offence happened only minutes after Louise Hart was freed by a court following a row at the funeral wake of a cousin who had died from a drugs overdose.

Hart had been given a 12-month community order by Harrogate magistrates, in North Yorkshire, on November 22 for assault on a police inspector and receiving stolen goods. But she was back before the same court yesterday and pleaded guilty to stealing a £100 electric shaver.

Hart, 25, had been spotted in Boots with her boyfriend, Lee Harpin, putting the shaver in a basket beneath her pushchair.

Magistrate Eileen Haxby called for probation reports to be compiled covering all sentencing options, and bailed Hart until January 26.

Michael Hammond, prosecuting, said Hart and 20-year-old Harpin - who is serving a prison sentence for assault, resisting police and failing to answer bail - had been seen behaving suspiciously in the shop.

Hart, of Stockwell Lane, Knaresborough, had put the shaver in the pushchair's basket before Harpin joined her.

A security alarm had been triggered and when staff followed Hart outside she began to shout obscenities.

She then passed the shaver to a second man and ran off.

The court heard that Hart had previously bitten, scratched and spat at Inspector Stuart Mackleston outside a Harrogate pub after a funeral wake for 22-year-old Michael Hart, who died after taking 15 ecstasy tablets and an ounce of amphetamine.

In mitigation, Clive Farndon said she had been convinced she was going to prison for that offence.

So, before leaving for court on November 22, she had taken a higher than usual dose of drugs prescribed for a stress-related problem and had been completely disorientated during and after the proceedings when the theft took place.