A gambling addict’s poker face let him down as he tried to cash a fake cheque at a Dundee bank, a court heard.
Geoffrey Newman, 28, was shaking so much from nerves when he tried to sign the cheque that staff suspected he was trying to con them into giving him £1,500 and called police.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told Newman walked into Barclays Bank and asked for a cheque to be cashed.
Fiscal depute Marie Irvine said: “He handed over the cheque and a driving licence as identification and he was asked to sign the back of the cheque, which is normal practice.
“The staff member put the cheque through the light machine and it showed it up as being fake.”
Solicitor Ross Bennett, defending Newman, told the court he was from Northampton and had lived there all his life.
“He had built up significant gambling debts — it was through card schools and certain persons he did not want to get on the wrong side of railed on him to settle his debts,” said Mr Bennett.
“He couldn’t do that so they set up a scheme and drove him to Dundee.
“Mr Newman suffers from anxiety and was shaking badly when he went into the bank.”
Mr Bennett said staff are trained to spot certain behaviour and the teller kept him waiting while another member of staff contacted police.
“Mr Newman left the bank when he realised something was up,” he added.
Newman was identified through bank CCTV and was eventually traced after a warrant was issued for his arrest last August.
He was arrested at his home in Northampton and brought to Dundee.
Newman appeared from custody and admitted that on January 18 2016, at Barclays Bank, High Street, he uttered as genuine a bank cheque drawn on the account of Abshire Smith Global, by presenting it to an employee there, and attempted to obtain £1,500.
Sheriff Hughes told Newman he wanted to send out a message to those involved in offences such as this who used people like him to commit crimes for financial gain.
He said: “Offences of this nature are taken very, very seriously by the courts.”
The sheriff deferred sentence until April 11 for reports and a restriction of liberty order assessment and remanded Newman in custody.
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