A LABOUR councillor, who was stopped by security at a supermarket after failing to pay for goods, will be defending her seat at the May elections.
Councillor Sara Boltonwas Mayor of Derby in 1999-2000, is chairman of the council's planning committee and has held her seat in Chaddesden since 1990.
A statement from the city's Labour group, and drafted by Ms Bolton, previously said the shopping mistake was believed to have been made after she had a diabetic incident, which left her "not completely functioning".
It said that the incident in Sainsbury's, at Kingsway, in January was believed to have come after "her sugar levels were falling to a level that may have caused her to pass out".
Now the Labour Party has confirmed that Ms Bolton will defend her seat against Tory Nicola RoulstoneCOR, Liberal Democrat Karen Walsh and UKIP's Anthony Crawley.
Tony MacDonald, chairman of Chaddesden Labour Group, said: "She's been a councillor in Chaddesden for quite a long time and we've never had any problem at all, so we consider she's a perfectly acceptable person to be a candidate.
"There was a reason [for what happened], it was explained and we were quite happy with that explanation.
"The other parties are bound to try to make an issue of it but I don't think the general public will be taken in by what they say."
The statement said there had been no caution, arrest or charge but that the police were called after she "neglected to pay for her non-food items".
It said Ms Bolton "readily admitted to the mistake, offered to pay, and did so".
It went on: "Diabetes can affect people in different ways. Councillor Bolton is waiting for the results of blood tests made by her doctor to determine the levels that her sugar may have dropped to and, hopefully, determine the cause of this event."
Asked about this doctor's note, Ms Bolton said the "blood test results are private".
Asked if she thought the incident would affect her chances she said: "My reputation in the ward is well known and the incident was down to my illness."
The Labour group statement said it believes the incident was "completely out of character".
The statement said "there was no caution, arrest or charge and confirmation by solicitors acting on behalf of Sainsbury's writing to Sara showing nothing was stolen or damaged".
