TWO men are today starting custodial sentences after a judge heard how fake £20 notes were used to swindle Felixstowe shops.Gary Wybrow and Daniel Grosvenor admitted using counterfeit money.

TWO men are today starting custodial sentences after a judge heard how fake £20 notes were used to swindle Felixstowe shops.

Gary Wybrow and Daniel Grosvenor admitted using counterfeit money. They bought small items which would allow them to get the maximum legal currency in change.

Police were alerted by JJB Sports, The Bakers Oven, Smiths, Clinton Cards and Stamps and Stuff when shop staff discovered the scam.

They provided police with the identities of both defendants and they were arrested.

Wyborw, 20 of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to two charges of tendering counterfeit money and breaching a conditional discharge imposed last December for disorderly behaviour and failing to surrender to custody.

Grosvenor, 21 of Davis Road, Aveley, Essex, pleaded guilty to three charges of tendering counterfeit Bank of Scotland £20 notes.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that Wybrow had an 'appalling' criminal record for theft and had alcohol problems.

Grosvenor had once committed common assault and committed these latest offences to pay off of a drug debt.

Judge David Goodin, sentenced Wybrow to six months in prison and Grosvenor to four months detention in a Young Offenders Institute.

Judge Goodin said: "You may not have known how seriously the courts treat currency counterfeit, which destabilises the economy.

"The closer the person is to the supplier, the more serious the offence, you only had a handful of notes but there is no alternative to custody."