A bank employee has admitted to stealing £8,850 from three elderly customers, one of whom was a blind man.

Joe Lennon, of Peter Candler Way in Ashford, pleaded guilty to three fraud charges during the hearing held at Folkestone Magistrates' Court today.

Working at Halifax's Canterbury branch, the 26-year-old was stationed at the front desk and would help customers make transactions.

He would then use their details after the victims had left to transfer money to his account or withdraw cash from their accounts.

The bench of magistrates heard how, over July and August last year, he had targeted three elderly customers.

He first defrauded one woman of £1,100, another for £1,200 and finally took £6,550 from a blind man's funds.

Prosecuting, Anna Kachingwe said: "He was in a breach of trust.

"More seriously, the victims were elderly - particularly one who was blind and another was emotionally vulnerable.

"On that basis, Crown (court) would say you haven't sufficient powers to sentence him in this court.

"There's a high probability of breach of trust."

She noted that the starting point is 18 months custody.

Following this, defence lawyer Paul Shingleton said: "When he was approached by his manager, he fully admitted what had happened.

"He went with them to the police station and admitted his culpability."

The investigating officer was watching from the gallery and confirmed he had cooperated well with the bank and police.

Because of this he was granted unconditional bail, and will be sentenced at a later date at Canterbury Crown Court.

Read more: All the latest news from Canterbury

For information on how we can report on court proceedings, click here.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.