A credit card fraudster has been jailed for nearly three years after police caught him using a bogus American Express card at an Islington Tesco.

Javed Khan, 24, tried to use the counterfeit card at Tesco Express in Pentonville Road to buy tobacco before being swooped on by Islington police officers.

A search of his home following the arrest found a further 19 bogus cards while computer equipment and blank plastic cards that would have enabled him to manufacture a further 69 were uncovered.

In interview the fraudster claimed the cards were genuine and he had obtained them over the internet through his lodger.

However, Khan, of Camberwell Road, Southwark, later pleaded guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court to Fraud by False Representation and Making Articles for use in Fraud.

DC Matt Stevens said: “Credit card fraud is seen by some as a victimless crime as it is the banks and retailers that normally suffer the financial loss.

“During 2012 plastic card fraud cost the UK economy £388 million. The sentence handed down by the court in this matter clearly demonstrates that the courts consider this to be a serious offence and will deal with offenders accordingly.”