A Chippenham man who stole medical micropore tape from a hospital was fined a total of £90.

Steven Baker, 27, of Pipsmore Road, pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing the tape, worth £3, a charge of interfering with a motor vehicle, and failing to answer to police bail.

Amanda Sawetz, prosecuting, told Chippenham Magistrates on Monday that ambulance driver Jane Grant answered a call to transport a patient to Chippenham Community Hospital's casualty unit on the evening of November 8.

Ms Grant and her colleague pulled up at the hospital entrance and took the patient in a wheelchair into the hospital, leaving the back of the ambulance open.

When she returned she spotted a young man inside the ambulance, leaning into the driver's cab area, Ms Sawetz said. The man was rifling through a bag of medical equipment.

When Ms Grant challenged him, the man said: "I'm looking for my mother."

He walked back into the hospital and Ms Grant checked the contents of the ambulance and found nothing missing.

The police were called and arrested Baker. Speaking in his own defence, Baker told the court he had been drinking that evening.

He said he went into the ambulance and stumbled around but denied looking in the bag.

He said he had no intention of stealing anything but admitted taking the tape from inside the hospital. A former heroin addict with two children, he said he had been off drugs for six months.

He told the court he had missed his appointment at the police station on November 27 because he had a job interview.