WHEN is a fiver not a fiver?
One of the images above is of the counterfeit note a young crook tried to pass off at two Truro shops – can you tell the difference (see answer at the bottom of this story)?
Graham Davies was given a suspended sentence after using the fake £5 note to try to buy scratch cards in Poundland and the Co-op in the city centre.
At Truro Crown Court on Friday Davies, of Kenwyn Mews, pleaded guilty to four charges involving tendering them and one of possession with intent to pass them as being genuine.
Judge Christopher Harvey Clark, QC, told Davies, 24, he had committed serious offences which warranted a prison sentence.
The judge said: "You come from a good family yet sadly you mixed with the wrong crowd, got involved in drugs and committed criminal offences. That's why I will grant you your liberty today, but with a most serious warning; there will be no further chances."
The court heard Davies had engaged with various agencies, including drugs, mental health and probation, in an attempt to get his life in order.
The judge told him: "You have one suspended sentence hanging over your head and you will get another today.
"If you revert to your old ways you will come back before the court again and I will have no sympathy, but this time I want to encourage rather than punish you."
Davies was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and an electronically-tagged three-month curfew from 7pm to 7am on Monday to Friday nights, inclusive.
Speaking after the hearing, Truro Co-op manager Charles Mellow told the West Briton cashiers could usually spot fake currency just by looking.
"If it's not done by looking at them you can feel the paper," he said. "You don't normally suspect people of having dud fivers, but the girl noticed it straight away."
The fake fiver is on the right.
