A illegal immigrant who was involved using a credit card stolen from the late Lord Joffe has been jailed for eight weeks.

Kandapkumar Jasani, 37, bought more than £32,000 worth of cigarettes from a north London cash and carry using the plastic taken from the 85-year-old peer.

But after hearing he was not involved in taking the card and was keen to return home to India a judge passed a sentence allowing Jasani’s immediate release.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that Lord Joffe, who died in June, was victim to a ‘courier fraud’ earlier in the year.

She said he was cold-called at his Liddington home in early January by someone pretending to be from his bank.

They told him his account had been compromised and they would send a 'courier' to collect his card.

Once they had the plastic and his PIN number she said more than £100,000 was taken from his account, which fortunately was returned by the bank.

Miss Squire said it was then used on four occasions on February 2 to buy cigarettes from Costco in Wembley.

She said the defendant was traced as he had used his own membership card at the store and was also seen on CCTV buying the tobacco.

He was arrested at Heathrow Airport, she said, as he attempted to board a flight to Mumbai and held in custody since.

Jasani, of Wembley, north London, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud.

Rob Ross, defending, said his client came to the UK four-and-a-half years ago to get work on a six-month visa but overstayed.

While he was here he sent his earnings home and, before his arrest, he had arranged with immigration to go back and bought himself a ticket.

He said he was due to be married in the autumn and he was keen to return to India, where his family live.

The court heard that he was earning just £30 a day at the time and was offered £150 by a man to help.

Mr Ross said he had no part in the taking of the card from the victim and foolishly agreed to assist a man getting the cigarettes.

Jailing him Recorder Jason Taylor said: “A bank card was stolen by what is known as a courier fraud.

“I make it plain that I don’t sentence you for that, that is just how the card came to be hands of the people who took advantage of that.

“What you did is use that card on a number of occasions in Costco where you purchased cigarettes to the value of about £32,000.

“The fraud wasn’t at all sophisticated because you used your own Costco card, you didn’t try and disguise yourself from the security camera that were there.”

He said that he hoped that he would able to save the public purse by using the ticket he had already purchased to fly home.

Lord Joffe, who died in June, was a noted lawyer who represented Nelson Mandela when he was on trial in South Africa in the 1960s.

Born in Johannesburg in 1932, he was awarded the CBE in 1999 and a year later he became a crossbench peer as Baron Joffe of Liddington.