"It's very easy to forget to pay for stuff": Richard Madeley on shoplifting and Champagne

We've all been there; rushing round the supermarket picking up essentials as we go, no doubt battling the clock to be in time for a prior engagement. Milk, bread, some fruit for the children, Champagne...

And one thing as certain as your lateness for that appointment, is that when you get home, you will have forgotten one of the essentials.

And so it was for Richard Madeley in 1994, when he was accused of shoplifting from a Tesco store in Manchester - and yes, Champagne was one of the items he was alleged to have taken.

He was taken to court over the incident, where his defence was that he had simply forgotten to pay for his French-produced tipple. He was acquitted of all charges, but it is a chapter never long forgotten among the British public.

Now, it has come up once again, during a chat the TV presenter had with ITV’s Good Morning Britain co-host, Kate Garraway this morning (November 7). Kate said: "There's such a scourge of shoplifting and it's causing so many problems for shop keepers and for everybody else. So let us know what you think."

Richard, 68, said: "I know for my own experience back in 1990 it's very easy to forget to pay for stuff."

"Woah, just a minute a store detective, would you really accept a store detective putting you in cuffs?," he said. "I would say, 'woah it's an honest mistake let me explain'. There's a lot to consider."

At the time of the shoplifting allegations, Madeley was a huge name in daytime TV, hosting ITV's mid-morning bastion, This Morning, alongside wife, Judy Finnegan, 76. The pair tied the knot back in 1986 and now live in Polperro, Cornwall - a long way from Tesco in Manchester. But they may well still enjoy an occasional glass of bubbly.