A woman who defrauded a high street retailer out of more than £2,000 over a period of nine months has been handed a prison sentence.

Gutai Mutuke bought a number of items from John Lewis’ online store between June 2013 and March last year, collecting them in person before returning them to different outlets across the south of England.

The 29-year-old woman from Lambe Close, Snodland, pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced at Maidstone Magistrates' Court.

She travelled as far afield as Swindon to make legal returns before using the internet order form to get reimbursed by different stores for very similar items she had in her ownership but did not buy from the retailer.

By doing so Mutuke fraudulently gained £2,153 – an amount she has now been ordered to pay back in compensation.

Additionally, Mutuke was sentenced to 120 days in prison, suspended for two years, has been given a four month curfew to run from 8pm until 7am daily, except between March 30 and April 30, and was ordered to pay £85 in costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

Mutuke's early guilty plea was taken into account when delivering the sentence.