A FORMER client of the Amber Foundation, at Tottenham House in Savernake Forest, denied being involved in a burglary which has left a Marlborough woman deeply traumatised.

Lisa Darke, 26, who now lives in Taunton, Somerset, pleaded guilty to handling a NatWest Switch card and using it to buy goods at garages in Chiseldon and Swindon as well as the Swindon branches of Tesco and Sainsbury's.

But she denied taking part in the burglary in which the card was stolen and a charge of burglary was officially discontinued by the prosecution at Kennet magistrates' court in Devizes on Tuesday.

Anna Humphreys, prosecuting, said that the victim, a woman living alone in Marlborough, returned home at about 10pm on November 26 last year. She went to bed, leaving her handbag on the counter in the kitchen.

The following morning she remembered she had left her shopping in her car but when she went to retrieve it, she found the car was gone. On returning to the house, she found her car keys and credit cards missing from her handbag and the conservatory door slightly open.

The car was found abandoned the following month. A lighter found in it bore the DNA of Darke's boyfriend. The credit card had been used four times on the night of the burglary, at 1.41am, 1.54am, 2.17am and 4.10am for goods worth about £140.

CCTV footage showed a woman resembling Darke using the credit card.

Miss Humphreys said: "This is about as serious as handling gets. The lady whose house was burgled was extremely traumatised and now can't go downstairs at night.

"Because the purchases were made in such a short time after the burglary, the defendant must have known it was taken from the house that night."

Michael Pulford, defending, said that Darke came from a well-to-do family in Somerset. After working for a designer clothing firm, she had travelled extensively in Australia and the Far East.

But when she returned to the UK, she became involved with a partner who was physically abusive. The relationship had deteriorated and she had become depressed, ending up living in squats in Bristol.

She has since been reconciled with her family who put her in touch with the Amber Foundation so she could address her drug abuse problems.

Darke told the court: "By the time I got to Amber I was in a bad state. I have never had a criminal record in my life. I am sorry for what I have done but I was very confused at the time."

Magistrates adjourned the case for reports and Darke was released on unconditional bail until April 8.