A COUNTY Durham couple used stolen debit card details to have hundreds of pounds' worth of curry delivered to their home address.

Brook Reay, 23, and Hasan Uddin, 22, who lived in Grange Villa, near Chester-le-Street, at the time, also took their cat to the vet and used the card details to pay for £450 worth of treatment.

They admitted four different counts of fraud by false representation when they appeared before magistrates in Newton Aycliffe. The offences date back to 2017.

The couple ordered curry from Spice Asia in Chester-le-Street on several occasions, using the stolen card details and paying over the phone, and had the food delivered to their home address, totalling about £220.

Omar Ahmad, prosecuting, said: "Following that, a vet received a call from a male saying his cat was ill and needed treatment. The vet advised that it would be £450.

"The male attended with a female and their cat. They paid for treatment, cat food and toys using the their card.

"The true card holder confirms he did not make this transaction."

Reay 'was unable or unwilling' to say where she got the card details and told probation officers she could not remember ordering the food.

Officers said there she told them she felt 'awful' and would never do the same again.

Reay, who started a hair and beauty course at South Tyneside College but never completed it, was now a carer for a family friend, the court was told, while Ahmad was doing volunteering in stores in the hope he would be offered a managerial position.

Magistrates sentenced them to a 12-month community order with a work requirement of 80 hours.

The couple, who now live at Dunstanburgh Road, Walker, were also ordered to pay compensation for the food and vets bill, as well as £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.