A lodger who ran up debts of almost £12,000 on his landlord's credit cards in three months has been jailed.

Thomas Robins, 25, was evicted after his landlord, Scott Weston, discovered he had withdrawn £9,999 from his credit card, leaving him liable for the full amount.

But Robins then ran up a further £2,000 on Mr Weston's other credit card to pay for hotel accommodation and taxi fares.

Marcus Thompson, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court that the credit card company held Mr Weston responsible because he had kept his PIN number and card together at his home.

Robins began making withdrawals on Mr Weston's Goldfish card in November 2002 after copying the PIN number. He borrowed the card about 70 times to withdraw £200 cash at a time.

Mr Thompson said Robins used all the available credit on the card until the balance was just £1 below the maximum limit to avoid triggering an alert from the credit card company.

Mr Weston had never used the card and was unaware of the transactions until the credit card company contacted him in February, 2003. Robins was asked to move out and went to the Manor House Hotel, Iffley, Oxford, where he used Mr Weston's Halifax Mastercard details to settle a £2,200 bill for a 44-night stay.

He also used the card to pay a £614 mobile phone bill and for two taxi trips from Oxford to Brize Norton and Chinnor, which cost £140.

When Mr Weston received his bill from the Halifax, he called police and Robins was arrested.

He immediately admitted fraudulent use of the credit cards, claiming he bore a grudge against Mr Weston and wanted revenge.

Peter Du Feu, defending, said at the time, Robins was unemployed and addicted to painkillers for a broken arm. He had since overcome the addiction and was training to become a skilled labourer.

Mr Du Feu said: "He really cannot account for how he got rid of so much money."

Robins, of Oxford Road, Old Marston, was jailed for 15 months for fraud and another two weeks' imprisonment for failing to turn up at court for an earlier hearing.

A community punishment order imposed for for stealing from an employer was replaced with a six-month jail term, to run concurrently.