Nearly £2,000 was spent on a stolen credit card, including on nine £50 gift cards, it is alleged.

The bankcard was reportedly taken after a purse was stolen from a shopper as she was loading her bags into a car, outside Sainsbury's in Simone Weil Avenue, Ashford.

The card, stolen on November 5, was then allegedly used fraudulently around shops in Ashford up to 13 times.

This included buying nine £50 gift cards, a mobile phone worth £449, Euros worth over £356, and other goods to the value of £699.

The theft totals £1,954.

An investigation by officers led to a vehicle being identified and two men were arrested on Friday (November 8) before being charged the following day.

Emil Dinut, 52, of High Road Leyton in London, was charged with theft and fraud.

Sandu Dragnei, 56, of Summerhill, Telford in Shropshire was charged with assisting an offender to commit theft and fraud.

Both appeared at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Monday (November 11).

The case will next be heard at Margate Magistrates’ Court on December 9.