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

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

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

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

He told Magistrate Scerri Herrera that he needed two weeks to refund the €35 he had spent as he was homeless and also unemployed. She deferred the case to July 9, giving him time to repay the victim and will then deliver judgment.

Inspector Mercieca told the court he was objecting to bail as the accused was homeless but Mr Bilsborrow said he was living at a friend's flat in Sliema. The court granted him bail against a €1,000 personal guarantee, ordering him to sign the bail book daily.

Lawyer Patrick Valentino was defence counsel.