Tomato excuse for prostitute in car in Walsall Published duration 25 July 2013

image caption Muhammad Ikhlaq said he had withdrawn £20 in cash to pay for tomatoes

A man caught with a prostitute in his car told police she was there to show him where to buy tomatoes.

West Midlands Police said officers found the woman sitting inside Muhammad Ikhlaq's car while he withdrew £20 from a cash machine, which he said was to pay for tomatoes.

Ikhlaq, 39, of New Street, Dudley, was found guilty of soliciting and fined £400 at Walsall Magistrates' Court.

He was also ordered to pay £665 in costs on Wednesday.

Ikhlaq was spotted by officers who saw the known sex worker in his Nissan Micra car in Wednesbury Road, Walsall, on 9 May.

PC Stacey Paterson, from Walsall police, said: "I've heard some excuses before but in the 10 years that I have been a police officer I have never heard a kerb crawler covering up his crimes by claiming to be buying tomatoes.