A credit card fraud involving residents of a Prestwich street netted one woman more than £4,000 worth of property, a court was told.

Tina Tucker said it was the "simplest thing in the world" to retrieve discarded credit card slips from supermarket car parks and use the details to buy goods from mail order companies.

But her actions cost her freedom when she was jailed for 18 months for dishonestly obtaining property by deception.

Tucker, aged 43, of Tulle Court, Prestwich, appeared at Bolton Crown Court for sentence. She asked for 35 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

The court heard that police began investigating a large number of deceptions against mail order companies, including GUS, Freemans, Brittania Music and Grattons.

When Tucker was arrested she fully admitted her involvement. She started collecting discarded credit card receipts from supermarket car parks and used the personal details to order goods worth just over £4,000 from a number of companies.

Jailing her for a total of 18 months Judge Bruce Macmillan said credit card fraud had grown to: "epidemic proportions with ordinary people losing billions of pounds."