AN ALEXANDRIA woman has admitted stealing cash from the Dumbarton branch of Marks and Spencer – but a sheriff has called for more information about the woman and the offence before deciding how to punish her.

Jennifer McDonald, 26, of Shandon Brae, admitted stealing a sum of money from the M&S Foodhall store at the St James Retail Park between May 10 and 31 last year.

But there was no mention in the charge against McDonald of how much money she stole – and that was just one aspect of the case which made Sheriff William Gallacher raise his eyebrows when McDonald appeared before him at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Friday.

McDonald’s own solicitor, Brian McGuire, pointed out to the court that there was no sum specified in the charge – and said that the offence committed involved “a breach of trust”.

That led Sheriff Gallacher to observe: “It seems the charge should say ‘in the course of her employment’. It’s pretty fundamental that the court has to know what the amount was.”

To McDonald the sheriff added: “I need to know more about your circumstances.”

Sheriff Gallacher adjourned the case until February 14 to enable the Crown and defence to reach an agreement on how much money McDonald stole and to give social workers time to prepare a background report.