David Shepherd, 30, pictured, from Great Warley, Essex, was sentenced to two and a half years at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, Scotland Yard said
A prolific forger who made fake banknotes on an ‘industrial scale’ has been jailed – two years after a hoax £20 at a sandwich shop aroused suspicion.
David Shepherd, 30, from Great Warley, Essex, was sentenced to two and a half years at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, Scotland Yard said.
He turned his home into a ‘forgery factory’ filled with UV ink, printers and laminators, producing thousands of sham notes.
Detectives started hunting for Shepherd after his prints were found on a counterfeit used at a Pret a Manger shop in Westminster in October 2015.
His house was raided in May last year, where the forging apparatus and vast amounts of half-finished notes were found.
He was further snared by internet history linking him to materials used for counterfeiting, while CCTV caught him using the fakes at different shops.
Detective Constable Jonathan Roberts, from the Metropolitan Police’s serious crime unit, said: ‘Shepherd was responsible for producing thousands of counterfeit bank notes from a forgery factory in his home address.
Shepherd turned his home into a ‘forgery factory’ filled with UV ink, printers and laminators, producing thousands of sham notes
Shepherd’s house was raided in May last year, where the forging apparatus and vast amounts of half-finished notes were found
‘The lengthy custodial sentence reflects the serious nature of this crime and should act as a warning to others engaged in this type of criminality.’
Shepherd was convicted of two counts of counterfeiting under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981.