A councillor has been found not guilty of stealing a £1.80 pack of painkillers after asking to have her case heard before a jury.

Myfanwy Noella Elliot, 67, of Bryn-y-Gog, Machynlleth had denied stealing a £1.80 packet of Panadol painkillers from her local Co-op last October, and asked for her case to be heard by a crown court. Now she has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Speaking afterwards, she expressed her relief.

“I want to thank the community of Machynlleth and the town council for all their support," Mrs Elliot said. "They have been fantastic, as has been my family.

“I will be able to sleep tonight. I knew I wasn’t guilty in the first place.”

She had told police: “I think it’s a misunderstanding.”

In evidence during a two-day trial at Caernarfon Crown Court she insisted she’d put back on another shelf a packet which the prosecution claimed that CCTV had shown her remove from an aisle.

At the self-service till she was alleged to have told an assistant when asked why the packet had not been scanned that she got the tablets at the Spar store.

But Mrs Elliott maintained what she had said was that the Panadol was sbar – a Welsh word for spare. She said they were spare tablets she carried 24/7 because of her angina.

The jury cleared her of the offence on the second day of her trial.