A homeless Canadian man found a wallet in the street and used bank cards to buy €35 worth of cigarettes, food and beer from a grocery store, a court heard yesterday.

Perry Thomas Bilsborrow, 57, admitted to defrauding the card owner on the evening of June 18.

Police Inspector Neville Mercieca told Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera Mr Bilsborrow walked into a grocery store and purchased the items using bank cards he claimed he had found lying on the ground.

Mr Bilsborrow had been convicted of drug possession and theft in the past and had been given a suspended sentence and placed on probation.

He told Magistrate Scerri Herrera he needed two weeks to refund the €35 he had spent, since he was homeless and unemployed. She put off the case to July 9, giving him time to repay the victim before delivering her judgment.

Mr Mercieca was reluctant about bail being granted on the grounds that the accused had no fixed address, but Mr Bilsborrow said he was living at a friend’s flat in Sliema. He was given bail against a €1,000 personal guarantee and ordered to sign the bail book daily.

Lawyer Patrick Valentino was defence counsel.