A SHOPLIFTER was caught with an adapted pocket in his coat.

The pocket was lined with an unknown material which could foil security systems, a court heard.

Benjamin Corfield, 40, of Trevenna Way in Caia Park, Wrexham, admitted going equipped to steal and stealing a hard drive valued at £127 belonging to Tesco.

At North East Wales Magistrates Court at Mold he was fined £120 with £85 costs and a £35 surcharge along with £127 compensation.

Magistrates ordered that the coat be confiscated and destroyed.

Prosecutor Justin Espie told the Mold court Corfield was arrested on October 23.

It was found that his coat had an adapted pocket.

The pocket was made of an unknown material which could foil security systems, he said.

Defence solicitor Patrick Geddes said his client did not know why he had committed the offence.

His medication at the time had been reduced by a third over a three month period and that had caused him to act out of character.

He was not interested in the item taken and it had not been sold for profit but given away, Mr Geddes said, adding it was bizarre behaviour when he was not his normal self.

He had been arrested a couple of days later still wearing the same coat that had been adapted.

Mr Geddes said: “It is a bizarre series of events.

"He is aware that he was not in the right frame of mind at the time. ”

He had admitted everything in interview and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

A probation officer said Corfield was known to the mental health team and a psychiatrist and that had been the case for three to four years.

At the time his medication had been changed, he became very ill and he was overwhelmed by compulsive thoughts which made him commit the offence.

But he felt a lot better once his medication had been sorted out.