A JUDGE voiced concern at how easy it was for an identity thief to commit a "staggering number of offences, after hearing how she stole credit cards to go on a £1,500 spending spree.

Julie Ann Boyne, 38, intercepted post to steal credit cards and personal identification numbers, before using the cards to buy mobile phones, a DVD recorder and jewellery, as well as credit for the phones.

Boyne, of Bell Farm Avenue, York, pleaded guilty to 26 charges.

Sentencing at York Crown Court, Judge James Spencer QC called the number of offences "staggering".

But he accepted Boyne had been driven by drug addiction, and said he was willing to give her a chance to break her habit, before sentencing her to a 24-month community order.

The offences began in May 2005 when Boyne stole a Barclaycard. She then stole two further cards and one PIN, before committing a number of crimes.

She was arrested last November and bailed, but continued her crimes. The court heard that by January, she was making regular visits to the Argos stores in York.

She received a stolen store card on January 26, and in the space of five days used it to obtain four mobile phones, a gold chain, a DVD recorder, gold ear-rings, £80 of gift vouchers, and digital TV set-top boxes. In total, she pleased guilty to four thefts of mail, two counts of handling stolen cards, four attempts to steal money from a cash point, 15 counts of obtaining property by deception, and one count of attempting to obtain property by deception.

Lesley Dickinson, for Boyne, said: "It an offence that clearly she found very easy to attempt. It was all too easy for her, once she had got her hands on cards of this sort, to go repeatedly back to the same shops. She knows that the court will view very seriously the fact that a number of offences were committed while on bail." Sentencing, the judge said: "Despite the number of offences the value is incredibly low - £1,580 for all offences. That you were able to repeat them with such ease is quite alarming too. The fact you were driven to commit these offences by your drug addiction is something I can take into account. You profess that you want to break this habit. I am going to give you a chance to do so."

Her community order includes a drug rehabilitation course, and the judge said he would supervise the order himself.

He told Boyne: "It's a big chance you are being given. You should take it."

Updated: 09:29 Friday, April 21, 2006