A FRAUDSTER who targeted two Kendal phone shops and a hotel has been jailed for a year.

Abidemi Adegbite, 49, used a bogus debit card to acquire expensive handsets and set up contacts at the town's Carphone Warehouse and EE stores on February 24.

Earlier that day he had booked a room at the County Hotel, Station Road, using the same fraudulent method of payment.

Adegbite tried to flee from police when they caught up with him, scaling a wall and making attempts to avoid detention which left one officer injured. The phones, worth more than £1,200, and four fake cash cards were found in his possession.

At Carlisle Crown Court today, the married father-of-five pleaded guilty to five offences. These were three counts of fraud, one of possessing an article for use in fraud and one of assaulting a PC with intent to resist arrest.

Adegbite, of Ludovick Walk, London, was handed a 12-month jail term by Judge Peter Davies. He heard the defendant had previous fraud crimes - committed in southern England - on his record.

"No individual has lost any money," Judge Davies said of the criminal conduct in Kendal. "Nevertheless this was planned; this was persistent."