A JILTED wife from Devizes has plead guilty to setting up five credit card accounts in her ex-husband’s name, running up thousands of pounds worth of debt.

After learning her husband of 27 years Philip Jones was leaving her for their landlady in late 2014, Karen Jones, of Nursteed Close, was left distraught and with increasing debts.

Between February and July last year Jones applied for five different credit card accounts with Barclays, Shop Direct, Aqua Marbles, Freemans Plc and another with Shop Direct. On Thursday she pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud by false representation.

Mr Jones, who had previously denied the affair, found out about the accounts after he applied for a mortgage to buy a new house and discovered his formerly good credit rating had plummeted.

Defence Cathy Thornton said: “She was married for 27 years and thought that it was not in too bad a shape, but her whole world came crashing down when she found a suspicious text on her husband’s phone.

“Faced with the debts she was left with, she tried to apply for some credit but she had never done it before, it was all done by her husband.”

The court heard how Jones decided to apply for a credit card account in her husband’s name when a letter came through the post from Barclays enquiring if he would want to set up an account.

The 46-year-old, who works for Capita as an outreach worker, was handed a community order by North West Wiltshire Magistrates last Thursday, under which she has to abide by a 12-week curfew and pay compensation of £940.73.

Ms Thornton added: “In desperation she applied for it as a stop gap, intending to pay everything back and she never wanted it to spiral out of control like this.

“He left her for their landlady, they were friends of sorts. Everything in the house was bought together and she wanted to get rid of the things and to put a new colour scheme in.

“In July she stopped and sort help from family and friends but she was in a deep dip not only of depression but also financial.

“She has had to come clean to her children and is determined to pay off everything that she took.”