A CHRISTMAS shopping expedition cost an Abergele man £650 when he appeared at Llandudno magistrates’ court.

Prosecutor Diane Williams said that on December 16 last year Peter Murray was seen leaving the town’s Tesco store with a trolleyful of goods worth £287 including a turkey and children’s toys.

When confronted by a member of staff as he loaded them into his car he admitted taking them and commented: “I’m going to have to do a runner.”

The goods were all recovered and when police visited him he was offered a conditional caution which meant attending a course, as he had no previous similar convictions.

When he failed to attend the course by June 3 he was then summonsed to appear in court, where he pleaded guilty to the theft.

Dafydd Roberts, defending, said that Murray, 43, a father of five, of Ffordd y Morfa, had been laid off work shortly before the incident and his partner had also lost her job.

He had not followed up the caution because he had since started work again and could not attend.

Murray, a joiner, was fined £500 and ordered to pay costs of £100 and a £50 surcharge.