A checkout fraudster was caught weighing £40 hair straighteners as 68p onions at self-service tills in Sainsbury’s.
Saulius Janusevicius was told by friends it was possible to “trick” the tills, but he was spotted on July 9 by a member of staff at the Spalding store.
Rebecca Ritson, prosecuting, said staff recovered the £40 BaByliss hair straighteners which weighed in for just 68p when Janusevicius selected the onions label on the screen.
Janusevicius (24), of Gamlyn Close, Spalding, admitted fraud by deliberately representing one item as another intending to make a gain.
He was fined £145 and ordered to pay £85 costs with a £15 victim surcharge at Spalding Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
Solicitor Rachel Stevens, mitigating, said having been told it was possible to fool the tills, the plan formed in his head as he walked around the store because he wanted to buy his new girlfriend a present.
He didn’t have enough money but thought he would “try his luck”.