'Worthless' banknotes were circulating around county

SHOPPERS across Leicestershire are being warned to check bank notes carefully after shops were left with “worthless” counterfeit cash.

- By DYLAN HAYWARD

Police said fake Scottish £20 notes had been circulating locally as part of a fraud operation spanning multi-ple counties.

The counterfeit Clydesdale bank notes were used by criminals who bought items from stores before returning the items for cash refunds at different branches, police said.

The fraud was uncovered when Patrick Ward, 22, and Jason Ward, 19, were arrested on Tuesday, January 21, after police stopped their car in Wakefield and found items bought using the fake notes.

Officers discovered the pair had been targeting shops in Wakefield, Barnsley, Sheffield and Chesterfield using the fake notes.

The investigation, led by Wakefield CID and supported by the UK National Counterfeit Currency Unit, revealed the operation had spread across multiple police force areas, including Leicestershire.

West Yorkshire Police said further offences linked to the group were identified in Thames Valley, West Midlands, West Mercia, Warwick-shire, Staffordshire and Northamptonshire. The counterfeit notes fea-tured convincing holograms but lacked other security features found on genuine Clydesdale bank notes, said officers. Both Patrick Ward, of Coole Park, Galway, Ireland, and Jason Ward, of Radharc Na Freine, Galway, Ireland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to have custody or con-trol of a thing knowing it was a coun-terfeit currency note, passing coun-terfeit currency and converting criminal property.