A crafty "actor" called Roger Moore turned out to be no Saint as he posed as a police officer to steal from Sainsbury’s.

The brazen 30-year-old told security officials he was an off-duty cop who had spotted two shoplifters at the Kingsmead Road supermarket.

But he instead used the fake story as a distraction to walk out of the store with a trolley full of goods worth £280.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how Moore - who shares a name with the actor who played James Bond and the Saint - had gone into Sainsbury’s on October 6 with his child.

Prosecutor Kieran Brand said: "He was pushing a trolley with a small child in a seat and asked an assistant if there was any security around.

"He said he was an off-duty police officer from Dover.

"He said he had seen two people he knew in his capacity as an officer and if they were caught shoplifting again they would be going down.

"He had no previous convictions which made him a saint as far as the court is concerned" - Kieran Brand, prosecuting

The assistant, Sarah Weatherley, called the store’s security officer and Moore told her he would point the thieves out and pay for the contents of his trolley later.

The court heard the two walked around the store for several minutes before Moore disappeared without paying for a steam cleaner, an air purifier and a telephone.

But three weeks later, the shoplifter, of Naseby Avenue, Folkestone, came unstuck after returning to the supermarket, again with his child.

He was seen on CCTV by another store worker and recognised.

"He was seen going to the toy aisle and selecting six boxes of Lego before going to the clothing aisle and removing the security tags," the prosecutor said.

"He then returned three of the tagged boxes to the shelves.

"After selecting food items he then walked out of the store against without paying for £60 worth of goods."

This time security officers stopped him and he was arrested.

Mr Brand added: "Before these offences, he had no previous convictions which made him a saint as far as the court is concerned."

Guy Wyatt, defending, said Moore worked in the motor industry but could remember little of the thieving because he was on a number of prescribed medicines.

He was given a 56-day jail sentence, suspended for two years after admitting two charges of shoplifting and one of impersonating a police officer.

The judge, Recorder Michael Turner, said: "This was most bizarre behaviour.

"You calmly walked around the store removing security tags to prevent the alarms going off and on the first occasion calmly walked around with a security guard.

"But there is a degree of professional shoplifting here, by impersonating a police officer you were embarking on a career in shoplifting for reasons of your own."