DVD counterfeiter Joanne Dunn escaped being tagged after a court heard it would spoil her outfit when she went out on the town in a short skirt.

A tagging order would have labelled Dunn, 37, a criminal, Sunderland magistrates heard.

Dunn, who wore trousers for her court appearance, was given a £500 fine, after admitting 12 charges of DVD piracy.

The married mother of four was caught out during a raid on her home in Alnwick Road, Farringdon, Sunderland, by police and Federation Against Copyright Theft investigators, in March last year.

Roger Hamilton, prosecuting, said investigators seized copying equipment and hundreds of fake films.

Peter Thubron, defending, said Dunn had been in financial difficulties when a friend suggested she could make £50 a week by copying films. However, he said she only had the equipment for three days when it was seized by police and she did not get any money.

Magistrates were intending to give Dunn a community-based sentence, but a probation service report suggested a fine or conditional discharge, as she was suitable for rehabilitation programmes.

She was unable to do unpaid work as she was on sickness benefit, which left a possible curfew order and ankle tag to monitor her movements, the court heard.

But Mr Thubron said: "Males can wear tags a lot easier than females."

"A lady going out on an evening, or out shopping, wearing a skirt", was being labelled very obviously as a criminal if she was wearing a tag, he said.

Magistrates did not mention the tag when sentencing, but fined Dunn £500 plus prosecution costs of £4,712.98, which she will pay at £25 a week.