A barcode fraudster who bought top-of-the-range televisions for as little as £24 was jailed for nine months yesterday.

Cash-and-carry card holder John Morris, 29, of Castlereagh Street, Sunderland, swapped product barcodes to steal thousands of pounds worth of televisions after discovering a scam, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Morris used his Makro store card at the wholesalers branch in Washington, Wearside, to buy televisions - paying as little as £24.99 on some occasions for plasma wide-screen televisions, a jury heard.

Some of the televisions were worth almost a hundred times what he paid for them.

Morris had denied five counts of theft during his trial but was found guilty on all charges.

Tom Finch, prosecuting, said Morris stole almost £10,000 worth of televisions.

He was foiled when he tried to push a Bush TV worth almost £1,000 out of the store.

"But on his receipt was proof of payment for an Aiwa CD radio cassette player, worth £24.99. That is what the checkout girl had scanned through.

"This is what he had purported to pay for."

Morris was found guilty on all five counts of theft.