An Ashford gambler "blew" £80,000 in two days at some of London's top fashionable shops.

Guangming Chen, who works at the Tin Tin Chinese Restaurant, splashed out nearly £50,000 at Harrods.

The 45-year-old £200-a-week waiter then went to Apple, Selfridges, All Saints, Mappin and Webb before hitting two casinos.

But now a judge has heard that the £80,000 was not his winnings, but had been stolen by a gang of fraudsters from bank accounts.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how Chen, of High Street Ashford, agreed to act as a "mule" for the gang and none of the purchases have ever been recovered.

Chen later told police he agreed his bank account could be used in exchange for 4% of the fraud – about £3,200.

Prosecutor Andrew Forsyth said the waiter received two payments totalling £80,000 in two separate bank accounts in his name.

“Those funds had been taken fraudulently from Barclays customers in online transactions.

“And within 24 hours of receiving the payments, the defendant made numerous high value purchases.”

The prosecutor added that Chen acted as "a mule" and was caught on CCTV cameras at the casino in the company of another man who has never been identified.

Mr Forsyth added the same victim had been defrauded by the gang of more money which had then been channelled into another person's account.

Chen had been traced by police as he had used his passport to register to gamble at the Hippodrome and Caesar casinos.

He later claimed he agreed to take part in the scam because of his gambling addiction, which had left him with a debt he couldn't repay.

The father-of-one pleaded guilty to converting criminal property and was jailed for a year.

Speaking through a mandarin interpreter, The Judge, Recorder Jonathan Higgs QC told him: “This was a highly sophisticated offence involving money being defrauded electronically.

“This was then, in a professional way, used to purchase high-value items so as to provide a difficulty to police as to where the money has gone.

“You allowed your bank accounts to be used to launder this money.

"You say you are concerned about the impact of a jail sentence on your son.it’s not me that’s cause this impact but you through your criminal conduct.”