TWO men who went on a spending spree of nearly £60,000 using compromised credit cards have been sentenced.

Abraham George, aged 37, of Heaton Park Road, Prestwich, and Olatunde Emmanuel Lawal, of Grangemill Walk, Moston, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and money laundering at an earlier hearing.

Today at Manchester Crown Court, George was jailed for two years and Lawal was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and 200 hours of unpaid work.

George used the compromised cards to live a lavish lifestyle far beyond his means, and when his house was raided, officers found unusually high numbers of designer clothes, handbags and belts together with expensive electrical items in every room.

He was also suspected of using the money to fund an expensive wedding for himself and his wife.

George was also caught with more than £560 worth of booze fraudulently bought from Waitrose using compromised credit cards.

The pair used a compromised Hilton Honours credit card issued by Barclaycard to a genuine cardholder to make more than 40 transactions iin just 20 days.

In total, £32,950 was spent, mainly at Co-op supermarkets in West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.

George and Lawal also used a compromised Natwest card to rack up transactions of more than £25,000.

The genuine cardholder reported that, in September 2012, someone accessed her online banking, changed her passwords and made several unauthorised withdrawals and transactions on her account.

Her compromised card was then also used to make thousands of pounds worth of transactions.

When officers raided George's Heaton Park Road home, they found a slew of the pre-paid cards that had been topped up using the compromised credit card details and receipts from the fraudulent transactions lying around the house.

Officers also seized hundreds of pounds worth of alcohol bought from Waitrose using stolen credit card details.

As part of the investigation, officers found George and his wife enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle far beyond their legitimate means of income recorded with the Inland Revenue.

Unusually high numbers of designer clothes, shoes, handbags and belts, together with high value electrical items were found in every room.

The couple's wedding at the Davenport Green Hotel in Hale Barns, of which the venue alone cost £14,000, was also suspected of being paid for using stolen money.

It was also heard in court that George and Lawal met and agreed the scheme at church, and Lawal was paid £50 for each of the transactions by George.

After the sentencing, PC Andrew Butcher, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "These men must have thought they had struck gold.

"They managed to get hold of genuine credit card holder's details and went on a spending spree.

"George, in particular, used the money to kit his house out with designer clothes and expensive electrical items, none of which he could have come close to affording on his wages.

"George and Lawal caused considerable distress, upset and unrest to the victims who had their details stolen before defrauding major companies out of tens of thousands of pounds.

"Anyone who has been a victim of this sort of crime will know how unsettling it is to have fraudsters mimic your identity and use your hard-earned cash to fund their criminality.

"That is why I am delighted we have exposed these conmen.

"They were persistent fraudsters who would still be spending other people's other money today if we had not caught them and I hope this sends a powerful message to other people who think they can get away with this sort of scheme that we will be coming for you."

Anyone who has their details stolen or has their cards compromised can report fraud by visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk