A FRAUDSTER who stole bank cards from cars and used them to buy McDonald's food has been jailed for the third time this year.

Dale Simpson targeted a number of vehicles in the Warrington area during a four-day crime spree last month.

Warrington Magistrates Court heard on Thursday, September 5, that the 29-year-old stole a Natwest card from a Ford on Wednesday, August 28.

Simpson, of no fixed address, then used this stolen card to buy £3.65 of food in McDonald's – as well as £6 of goods in a newsagents on Bridge Street and £11 of shopping in the Esso petrol station on Knutsford Road.

Only days later on Saturday, August 31, he stole a bank card from another parked car – using it to spend £7.36 in McDonald's and attempting to buy £18.99 of pizza online from Papa John’s.

The serial offender – formerly of Kirkstone Avenue in Orford – also attempted to break into another three vehicles, including a Porsche, the same day.

Simpson admitted five counts of fraud, three of theft and two charges of attempted theft last week and was jailed for eight months.

He was previously imprisoned for a year in January for a similar crime spree, during which he stole a bank card and used it to pay for a taxi he fled the scene of the crime in.

Between September and November last year, he targeted a number of insecure vehicles across town and spent around £85 in convenience stores and garages using bank cards stolen from these cars – as well as using them to pay for taxis.

The convicted burglar later handed himself into police, telling officers that he had committed the frauds in order to pay off debts.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that he had planned to move to the Wigan area with his girlfriend in order to ‘make a fresh start’ as he had a ‘number of bad influences’ in Warrington.

Simpson then pinched a television from the Patten Arms Hotel in July and was handed another four weeks behind bars on recall to prison.