A YORK pensioner used several people's identities and bank details in a year-long credit card fraud, a court heard.

Derek Zylstra, 66, notched up nearly 90 offences by pilfering mail addressed to previous tenants in his shared accommodation to get financial information and using it to set up and exploit crooked credit card accounts, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Alan Mitcheson described how he set up a direct debit on another man's bank account to pay insurance for his Jeep, bought a £1,630 computer, two hi-fis, gallons of petrol and numerous other items during a crime spree that netted him more than £5,000 of items he was not entitled to.

He had a fistful of credit cards on him in other people's names when police arrested him on a tip-off from a pawnbroker.

Zylstra had just tried to cash an insurance refund issued by mistake on the crooked direct debit.

At his home, police found a £2,500 building society cheque issued to another of the stolen identities.

Released on bail, he started up again with two more fake credit cards using yet more people's identities illegally.

Zylstra, of Garth Terrace, York, pleaded guilty to five offences of theft, ten of deception, one of attempted deception and asked for 71 more deception and theft offences to be taken into consideration.

He has lived in Britain for some time.

He told police he did it because he was of "limited" means.

Judge Jonathan Crabtree said: "You take the view it is all the fault of the big capitalist credit companies throwing money upon people."

But, he added, Zylstra had caused the people whose names he used a great deal of trouble and may have got them blacklisted on credit agency lists.

He jailed Zylstra for nine months.

Earlier, he had said Zylstra had made no effort to repay the money, although he had a house.

Mr Mitcheson said Zylstra lived in a shared house in Murray Street in autumn 1999. When financial mail addressed to former tenants arrived, he pilfered their details from it, which he used to get the credit cards.

For Zylstra, David Bradshaw said he had had marital and other difficulties and mentioned a "remarkable background" in the war years, but did not go into details. He also had health problems.

Updated: 11:40 Tuesday, August 07, 2001