A trusted supermarket worker stole mobile phones and iPods worth nearly £4,000 from her workplace.

At Carlisle's Rickergate court's complex, Fiona Bell, 31, admitted stealing dozens of phones and iPods valued at £3,691 over three months last year.

Prosecutor Pam Ward said the theft came to light after the owner of a phone and music trading store in Scotch Street, Carlisle, became suspicious of a woman in an Asda uniform who repeatedly visited and sold on mobile phones and iPods.

He contacted the London Road branch of Asda to report this. Inquiries revealed that a Samsung 4 mobile phone had been removed from the store at the store's Kingstown branch of Asda. Four more phones were missing.

It emerged that 33 phones had disappeared from the store between July 7 of last year and September 28. All but one were sold to the Carlisle store, said Mrs Ward.

Staff at the Scotch Street shop were shown a photo of the defendant and they confirmed that she was the woman who sold the phones and iPods. "She fully admitted the thefts," said Mrs Ward.

"Asked how she had access to the area where the phones were stored she said there was a bunch of keys which all the staff used.

"There was a key on the bunch giving access to the area where the phones were."

Bell explained that she would discard the packaging and take the phone home before selling it.

"She said she had never been stopped for a spot check," said Mrs Ward.

"She purposefully avoided security cameras while stealing the items."

Gail Heard, for Bell, of Church Square, Rigg, Gretna. said the defendant was enormously remorseful and had immediately resigned from her job at Asda.

"She was an employee for nine years, working as a general shop assistant," said Mrs Heard. Magistrates adjourned sentence until June 13, warning the defendant that her crime involved breaching a high degree of trust.

The starting sentence for such offences, they said, was usually 26 weeks custody. They ordered a background report and the defendant was granted bail.