A SERIAL thief and fraudster is back behind bars after using a stolen bank card to buy cigarettes and scratch cards.

Michael Jacques was caught on CCTV using the card at three business in Darlington within a short period.

The 37-year-old called into Sainsbury’s on Corporation Road at 6.15am to use the contactless payment before heading to Somal’s Mini Market on Brinkburn Road where he again used the card to buy more cigarettes and scratch cards.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the fraudster then headed to the nearby Morrisons where he used the card in the petrol station booth before buying even more cigarettes and scratch cards from the main shop on North Road.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said Jacques managed to wrack up more than £100 on the stolen bank card in around half an hour on the morning of March 9.

He said: “The defendant has 64 previous convictions for dishonesty offences, ten previous convictions for fraud and these three frauds were committed during a suspended sentence imposed on December 9 when he was sentenced to 18 weeks, suspended for 12 months for ten counts of fraud.”

The court how Jacques, who has more than 100 offences on his record, was identified by a police officer who recognised the defendant from the CCTV stills from the three businesses.

Mr Newcombe added: "The defendant used stolen bank cards which were effectively 'red hot' from a very recent burglary. The burglary took place between 2am and 6.15am on Beaconsfield Street, Darlington.

"The burglary was discovered at 6.15 am and at around that time the defendant was in Sainsbury's on Corporation Road to buy cigarettes and scratch cards."

Jacques, of Surtees Street, Darlington, pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud.

John Turner, mitigating, said his client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and accepted he had made all of the transactions.

He added: “There is little in the way of mitigation because I don’t believe it will sway you, however, perhaps the best mitigation is this gentleman’s willingness throughout to plead guilty to these matters.”

Judge Paul Watson QC said: “You have got an absolutely horrific record for offences of dishonesty, mostly offences of fraud and many of them similar to the matters I’m dealing with for you now.

“You also got a suspended sentence on December 9 and were only a matter of weeks into that before on March 9, here you were using very recently stolen bank cards taken in the course of burglaries of other people’s homes.

“With your record you really can’t complain about a lengthy custodial sentence.”

Jacques was jailed for a total of 12 months – eight months for the frauds and four months for breaching his suspended sentence.