A shop worker in the Black Country gave more than £1,200 worth of goods to customers without scanning them at the till, a court heard.

Sara Legister, aged 19, carried out the scam at TK Maxx in the Merry Hill Centre, Brierley Hill. She passed on clothes and electrical items to the customers on three separate occasions.

Bosses became suspicious when they noticed some of the accounts did not add up and studied CCTV footage, Mr Mark Cooper, prosecuting, told Dudley magistrates.

Store bosses saw her twice “under-ringing” and “free-bagging” on another occasion, he said.

Under-ringing involves only charging a customer for some items from a basket, while free-bagging means putting goods straight into their carrier bag without scanning anything.

Mr Cooper said the store was now trying to recoup the £1,253 value of the goods from Legister, of Kirkham Way, Tipton.

When interviewed after being arrested on her 19th birthday, she told police she did not know any of the customers involved.

But she told them the items were being sent to “a third party in Jamaica”, Mr Cooper added.

Mr Gerry Vahey, defending, said there was “more to the situation” but Legister had refused to name the people she had served.

Legister, who is due to start a performing arts degree at London Metropolitan University in September, lives with her parents, the court heard.

She had insisted on taking full responsibility for the crime, Mr Vahey said, and has since lost her job.

He said: “She was clearly under pressure from other people to carry this out.”

The three incidents took place between August 2010 and April 15 this year, the court was told.

Legister pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of her position when she appeared in court yesterday.

She was fined £250, and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Magistrate Mr Roger Pemberton told her the sentence had been reduced considerably due to her early guilty plea. He said: “The offences are very serious because they are a breach of the trust of your employers — but you pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.”