THE USE in a fraud of a spoof bank note containing a picture of Santa Claus and cartoon reindeer, drawn on the Santa Christmas Bank and promising to the pay the bearer nothing at all was “astonishing,” a Dundee sheriff said yesterday.

However, Sheriff Alistair Duff said it was even more remarkable that someone should be taken in by the scheme.

The fake £20 brought a light-hearted “note” to the normal solemn proceedings at the sheriff court when it was handed to the sheriff.

Appearing before him was Stacey Ann Rice (27), of Tulloch Court.

She admitted pretending at Fitness First, Main Street, on January 16, that the “piece of paper” was a genuine £20 note and inducing a woman to give her £20 in smaller denominations in return, thus obtaining the cash by fraud.

Her solicitor Scott Norrie said his client had been “desperate” for money as there had been a hold-up in her benefits and she had been forced to rely on charity for six weeks.

Sheriff Duff said the handing over of a counterfeit note was always serious. One of the reasons for this was that it might undermine the legal currency.

However, he noted that the £20 in question was not even referred to as counterfeit in the charge but as a piece of paper.

“It’s hard to imagine this undermining the banking system,” he said. “I can’t see the Chancellor being worried by it.”

In addition to bearing the Santa Christmas Bank legend, the note also listed Santa Claus as the bank’s “chief operating officer” with his address at the North Pole. It was dated December 25, 2007.

Fining Rice £75, the sheriff added, “The most astonishing thing about this was that you got away with it. It was astounding that you even dreamed this up as a scheme.”

Last night Fitness First manager Rick Brown said club staff were now being extra vigilant following the incident.

“It was just a one-off thing that we were quite surprised about,” Mr Brown said. “We’ve given all the staff refresher training and gone through security procedures in light of it because we don’t want it to happen again.

“People try to chance their arm all the time but this was certainly quite bold and the first time we’re aware of anything like this having happened at the club.

“It was noticed quite quickly after the exchange, because it didn’t look right and it didn’t feel right.

“We certainly don’t tolerate that sort of thing.”