A SUPERMARKET checkout girl who took pity on hard-up shoppers and allowed them to take goods for free got nothing for herself but £1,300 in debts, a court heard.

Adrian Strong, prosecuting, said that cashier Tracey Illingworth, 36, scanned the cheaper items in shoppers' trolleys at Netto, but let the more expensive "purchases" go through unpaid.

"They were people she knows or people she feels sorry for," defence solicitor Craig Robertson told York magistrates.

He added that when Netto uncovered the crimes, the supermarket sacked her and she had since run up £1,300 in debts.

Illingworth was single-handedly bringing up a family of four.

"I am not going to say the children are angels. She suffers because of her children," said Mr Robertson.

Illingworth, of Burton Green, Clifton, pleaded guilty to stealing grocery items from Netto's Clifton Moor store at 11.51am, 2.40pm and 5.23pm on January 10.

Senior justice Graeme Robertson said that the crime of an employee stealing from an employer was so serious the offender was normally sent to prison.

But he said: "We have heard no evidence of personal gain to you." After referring to her severe financial difficulties, he and his colleagues conditionally discharged her for 12 months. They also declined a prosecution application for her to pay £120 towards the costs of the case.

Mr Strong said staff at the supermarket became suspicious of Illingworth and started surveillance with CCTV. On three occasions, they noticed her only scanning some of the items in customers' trolleys so that the shoppers left paying "substantially less" than they should have done.

The supermarket could not give an exact amount of how much she had cost them.

The defence solicitor said that staff had suspected other members of staff besides Illingworth and that the CCTV video was poor quality.

Since the crimes were discovered, Illingworth had suffered "shame, embarrassment and humiliation". Because she was sacked, she was not entitled to benefits and therefore had run up the debts.

She was struggling to keep her family together with no help from the father of the children.

Updated: 09:03 Thursday, May 23, 2002