A MAN who defrauded a supermarket then tried to blame a member of their staff for his crime has been confined to his home every night for the next three months.

Paul Andrew Sterndale, 49, of Wandales Close, Norton, was on an eight-month suspended prison sentence when he took a crate of beer and two bottles of wine off the shelf in Tesco’s Selby store.

He then tried to claim a refund for them using a discarded staff receipt he had picked out of a trolley, Stephanie Hancock, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

He got a £16 refund, but when staff checked the CCTV they saw what he had done and alerted police.

Sterndale claimed he had been asked to commit the crime by a member of staff, but the name he gave was not that of the employee whose receipt he had used.

Sterndale pleaded guilty to fraud and breaching the suspended prison sentence imposed for dangerous driving in Selby.

He was put under curfew from 7am to 7pm for three months and fined £100.

The suspended sentence remains in force for another year.

His solicitor advocate Neal Kutte said he had been homeless at the time of the fraud for which he was remorseful.

He had suffered from depression for a long time following the break-up of his long-term relationship and was on medication and was receiving counselling.

He had moved from Selby to Norton where he had a stable address.