A pregnant mother-of-seven and her housemate admitted stealing a jacket from a Broadmead store.

Dida Filipache, 31, and Firutja Vasile, 25, who both live in Whitehall, pleaded guilty to attempting to steal two coats each worth £37.50 from Debenhams on September 17.

Crown prosecutor Andrea Edwards said staff at the store had noticed the two women acting suspiciously.

They had looked at the jackets and then placed them in a bag at the back of a pushchair. They had then walked away but Ms Vasile discarded one of the jackets behind a display after she feared they had been caught.

Security guards called the police and the women, neither of whom had enough money to pay for the coat, both admitted the offence.

David Fanson, defending, said Ms Filipache was unmarried, living with her partner and seven children, and had very little access to money.

He said Ms Vasile, who was a single mother of four, also lived at the address.

He added that they had stolen the jackets for themselves, not with the intention of reselling them.

At Bristol Magistrates' Court yesterday both women were given a conditional discharge for one year. No order for costs was made.