Fraudster given suspended jail sentence

AN incompetent fraudster who tried to use a fake police warrant card containing two spelling mistakes was given a suspended jail sentence this week.

Scott Stewart - a former probationary police officer and soldier -- was in Barclays Bank in Wisbech when he bungled an attempt to open an account using the false Thames Valley police warrant card.

Staff were suspicious when they noticed he had spelled the word constable incorrectly on the front, and the poor quality of the card. The word headquarters was incorrectly spelt on the back, Fenland magistrates were told.

"The whole escapade was doomed from the start, it was incompetent," said his solicitor John Clarke. "If you are going to deceive someone, at least do it properly. There never would have been a victim, because he would have been caught."

At an earlier court hearing, 26-year-old Stewart, who had a former address in Back Road, Elm, but now lives in Oxford, had admitted possessing the fake card for use in connection with fraud.

This week he claimed to have made the card as part of his research into bank fraud, and he wanted to take his findings to the press and his MP.

"That led me to come up with the idea of creating a false document," he said. "At no time did I have any intent to cause fraud to the bank. I wanted to see how far it would be accepted, I only had good intentions."

Stewart's three month jail sentence was suspended for 12 months, and he was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £70 costs.