Two friends, Linda Mitchell and Rosemary Clayton, are accused of conspiring to shoplift a dress from Hombards Boutique in Fulchester. A store detective claims that Mitchell tried on four dresses in the changing rooms but emerged with only three. Ms Clayton, it is claimed, tried to cause a distraction when Mitchell was challenged about the missing dress by claiming that her purse had been stolen. The store detective claims to have seen the two women put the stolen dress into their car, hidden beneath a raincoat, before Clayton drove away.
