Shoppers used fraudulent cards at Derby's Westfield centre

A group of shoppers used fraudulent gift cards to target outlets in Derby’s Westfield shopping centre, buying goods totalling about £6,000.

Police were called to the centre by Dorothy Perkins staff after they suspected two female customers of using cloned gift cards to pay for items.

Westfield security staff tracked the suspects to the basement car park and directed officers there as the group were getting into a vehicle.

Four people – Michael Ogunwale (22), Andrew Eric Obina (23), Nicole Evans (19) and Kelly Guimaraes (18) – were arrested at the scene and later charged with fraud by false representation.

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Officers searched a Range Rover – which was seized – and found around £6,000 of goods including clothes, shoes, additional gift cards and computer accessories.

Ogunwale, of Woodman Street, London, Evans, of Sullivan Road, London and Guimaraes, of Buttermere Close, London, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates Court in November.

Obina, of Durham Road, London, denied the charge but was found guilty by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

The court was told that a Westfield gift card had originally been purchased with a small amount charged to it.

It was then tampered with and had credit card details cloned onto it, meaning the offenders could use it to buy goods without having to sign or enter a PIN.

The offence took place on October 24 last year. All four will be sentenced on March 7.