The head of security at an exclusive store today told a jury that he stopped the Marquess of Blandford from leaving the shop with three unpaid-for items worth 257.

A security alarm was triggered as the 44-year-old aristocrat attempted to leave Harvey Nichols in London's Knightsbridge, Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court was told.

Security chief Peter Vorburg said: As the alarm activated, he pushed the inner door at which point I quickly ran to catch up with him.

Challenged about two pairs of sunglasses which Mr Vorburg had seen him holding earlier, Blandford, who appeared in court under the name Charles James Spencer-Churchill, said: I have forgotten to pay. It's OK, I'm an account-holder. Blandford, of Lawrence Street, Chelsea, west London, denies theft.

Mr Vorburg told Duncan Penny, prosecuting, that Blandford, the heir to Blenheim Palace at Woodstock, reached down to a pocket on his trousers and produced two pairs of Cutler and Gross sunglasses and a Clinique roll-on deodorant.

The court heard that Blandford had seen his psychiatrist hours before the incident, on November 10 last year.

The trial continues.