A woman who admitted pretending to be a doctor and stealing medical supplies from the Lister Hospital in Stevenage has been fined by magistrates. Sarah Caine, 30, admitted stealing medical items including surgical scrubs, bandages, syringes and saline and blood culture bottles, at a court appearance last month.

She also admitted two counts of pretending to be a medical practitioner.

At Stevenage magistrates court yesterday, magistrates fined her for each offence.

Caine first went into the Lister Hospital in Coreys Mill Lane on January 14 and told nurses she was a doctor who had started training.

She was seen on that day wearing surgical scrubs with a lanyard and stethoscope around her neck.

On January 16, Caine returned and was seen entering the hospital at around 2pm, again wearing surgical scrubs, a stethoscope and carrying a green medical clipboard.

She spent the next seven hours wandering around the A&E paediatric, major surgery, paediatric and maternity wards before she was arrested by police at around 9pm.

She was fined £100 for each of the charges of impersonating a doctor and £135 for the thefts – a total of £440 – and was also ordered to pay victim surcharge of £20 and court costs of £85.

Following the hearing, a spokesman for East and North Herts NHS Trust said: “The trust is aware that Ms Caine pleaded guilty to several very serious charges, including attempting to impersonate a doctor.

“Although she had no patient contact at the trust, we worked with Hertfordshire Police to ensure that this successful prosecution was brought through the courts.”