A MAN who bought goods with a stolen credit card to feed his heroin addiction has been sentenced to jail.Peter Barber, of Newnham Court, Ipswich, admitted using a Tesco Visa card at various stores in Ipswich in November.

A MAN who bought goods with a stolen credit card to feed his heroin addiction has been sentenced to jail.

Peter Barber, of Newnham Court, Ipswich, admitted using a Tesco Visa card at various stores in Ipswich in November.

At South East Suffolk Magistrates Court the 31-year-old pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and two charges of obtaining property by deception.

He also admitted three similar offences that were taken into consideration.

Ian Pells, prosecuting, told the court that Barber received the card following a burglary in Ipswich. While he was not implicated in the burglary, he was aware the card was stolen.

The court heard he used the card to buy £39.97 of cigarettes from Tesco on November 19. The following day he bought £46.85 of cigarettes from the Shell garage in Woodbridge Road.

Barber admitted using the card on three other occasions, twice on November 19 and also on January 9. He ran up a bill totalling £199.

Claire Hullock, in mitigation, told the court the offences were committed at a time when Barber had been struggling with heroin addiction. However she added he was no longer taking the drug.

The court heard that Barber was also in breach of a probation order following a previous conviction for theft.

Magistrates revoked the order and sentenced Barber to four weeks in prison. However he will be released immediately after serving the sentence on remand.

He was also ordered to pay £199 compensation to the owner of the credit card he used.