A former barman has been locked up for a "catalogue of thorough dishonesty" in which he used customers' credit card details to obtain thousands of pounds worth of property and services.

Credit card holders were entitled to assume that staff would use their details properly, and offences like those committed by 20-year-old Matthew Robinson undermined public confidence in the system, said Judge Geoffrey Marson QC.

Robinson, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to offences of obtaining property and services by deception, theft, burglary and driving while disqualified. He also asked for 35 other offences to be taken into consideration.

Sending him to a young offenders institution for 15 months and imposing a 12-month driving ban, Judge Marson told Robinson: "Over a two-month period you sought to obtain a very substantial amount of property, including money.

"This was a catalogue of thorough dishonesty."

Ewan McLachlan, prosecuting, said the offences began last August when Robinson was working as a barman at The Generous Pioneer pub at Burley-in-Wharfedale.

He used customers' credit card information to obtain cash, cinema tickets and stays at two hotels in Ilkley.

He also bought a mobile phone and a car stereo valued at £367 from Argos.

Eventually, staff at one of the hotels became suspicious and the police were called. Robinson was arrested, interviewed, and released on police bail.

He then got a job at a petrol station in Ben Rhydding and again used the credit card details at a bowling alley in Leeds.

On September 30, Robinson went to Ilkley Caravans, where he slept inside several caravans after breaking into them.

He also booked accommodation at two Skipton hotels by using false credit details and pretending to be his father.

The following month he borrowed a friend's credit card, supposedly to put a deposit on a flat they planned to share, and used it to take out a mobile phone contract at a shop in Guiseley.

He also used it to buy items from a supermarket.

For Robinson, it was stated that he committed the offences at a time when his debts, which currently stand at about £10,000, were beginning to get out of hand.

He was living in a car and initially hoped to clear things up, but accepted that he then went far beyond providing the necessities of life.