A man who used stolen bank cards to buy scratch cards, cigarettes and a breakfast muffin has been jailed for a year.

Thomas Arnold used the cards for 12 separate purchases at various shops across Strood and Ashford between March and April.

After stealing two cards during a burglary in Henderson Avenue, Ashford, on Monday March 11, Arnold used them to buy mobile phone credit and scratch cards from different service stations over three days until Wednesday March 13.

The 29-year-old, of no fixed address, then went on to steal another card on Saturday April 27 from Hartington Street, Chatham, and used it to buy cigarettes and a breakfast muffin.

The combined total for the two shopping sprees came to £284.

At Maidstone Crown Court on Monday, Arnold was sentenced to a year in jail after admitting 12 counts of fraud by false representation and two counts of handling stolen goods.

Arnold also admitted being carried in a vehicle that was reported to have been stolen from the Chatham burglary.

DV Dan Bister Kent Police’s investigating officer for the case, said: "Arnold’s willingness to use other people’s bank cards for his own means clearly shows him to be an opportunistic and deceitful offender.

"He showed little regard for the distress his offending would cause and it is entirely appropriate he has received a custodial sentence."

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