Jail term for credit card bride

A bride who paid for her wedding with a stolen credit card has been jailed.

Torbay Magistrates were told Emma Johnson, of Fraser Drive, Teignmouth, was living on benefits of £117 a week, but wanted a wedding to remember.

The 34-year-old spent about £4,000 on items from flowers to the honeymoon and used stolen cheques to run up another £3,500 on spending money and luxuries.

Ms Johnson admitted handling a stolen card and three offences of obtaining goods and services by deception.

Marriage breakdown

She asked for a six further offences of obtaining goods by deception to be considered. She was sentenced to 90 days.

The court was told the fraud was not discovered earlier because the card had been stolen from a woman who lived in London, but was travelling abroad.

Ms Johnson's solicitor, Mervyn Williams, said she had wanted to marry for the sake of her 10-year-old son, but the relationship had broken down since the ceremony in April.

Judge Paul Farmer told Ms Johnson custody was the only appropriate sentence.

"You caused substantial inconvenience and distress to the card holder and put genuine traders at risk of loss," he said.