A police officer who was supposed to catch criminals at a Bristol shopping centre hid two computer games under his stab vest and stole them from a shop, a court has heard.

Peter Cokell was allegedly seen on CCTV selecting two PlayStation 3 games on the evening of April 7 before smuggling them out of the HMV shop at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway, without setting the alarm off.

The 34-year-old, of St Francis Drive, Wick, is on trial before a district judge at Bath Magistrates' Court accused of theft. He denies the charge.

At the time of the incident, Cokell was a PC based at the shopping centre.

Giving evidence yesterday, HMV's loss prevention officer at the time, Gary Sutton, said he saw the police officer apparently taking the games Call of Duty and Kill Zone – together worth £74.98 – without paying.

At about 8.40pm, 20 minutes before the store was due to close, Mr Sutton noticed a uniformed officer in the store.

He recognised him as Cokell, whom he had known professionally for several years. As the PC appeared to be acting "suspiciously", looking up at the dome CCTV camera, Mr Sutton kept watching.

He said he saw him select two games before walking to a redundant Virgin Media desk at the back of the store.

Mr Sutton said: "He placed the two games inside the cubby hole and just leaned on the edge of the desk."

Admitting he could no longer see the games, Mr Sutton added: "After a short while he did what appeared to be tucking the two items sort of up his vest and inside his coat. He straightened his front and made his way out of the store."

The court heard Cokell didn't stop at any of the tills. There was no evidence that any alarms had been activated by security tags as he left.

After checking the desk, Mr Sutton went to The Mall's police post to speak to the PC.

"I then asked him where the games were, the two he had selected in the store," he said.

"At first he replied he did not have them and that they were still in the store.

"I replied that I had seen him on CCTV and that I needed the games back. At this point, he was leaning on the edge of a chair and he informed me that he had the games but could not get hold of them due to where they were now being locked."

It was claimed Cokell offered to return them when Mr Sutton was next working two days later, that the pair shook hands and Mr Sutton went back to the shop.

Mr Sutton said he had not followed HMV's procedure because he was "shocked" and he knew the officer.

He said that Cokell told him he could not believe Mr Sutton was willing not to tell anyone, and that if anything similar happened to Mr Sutton, Cokell would be prepared to "write it off". The next day he spoke to PC Shaun Oliver, who was also based at The Mall, and his regional manager, before officially reporting the incident.

In cross-examination, defence barrister Jonathan Heard accused Mr Sutton of "setting up" Cokell and "fabricating" his alleged confession because he had apparently refused to give him a job reference.

Mr Heard said: "We say this is you tracking Mr Cokell, it's you trying to point everything towards him, trying to set him up."

Mr Sutton replied: "I had nothing to gain by setting him up."

Cokell is no longer a police officer.

The trial was adjourned until next week.