TWO men who toured south Warwickshire 'laundering' fake £20 notes by buying small items in shops were caught after they were followed by a suspicious manager.

And at Warwick Crown Court, Donald Davidson was sentenced to eight months detention and David Palmer was jailed for eight months.

Davidson, aged 19, of High Street, Studley and Palmer, aged 21, of Dovedale Close, Redditch, had both admitted charges of passing counterfeit bank notes and asked for similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Louise Pierpoint, prosecuting, said that during the afternoon of November 18, Davidson went to the Co-op in Studley and used a forged £20 note to buy 10 cigarettes for £2.

The two then moved on to Alcester where Davidson visited the Card Cottage shop and used another forged note to buy a greeting card.

Both men went into the Three Cooks bakery separately to buy cakes and other small items, and they both handed over forged £20 notes in payment.

The manager later noticed the notes in the till and was suspicious because he believed that the Queen's smile 'looked a bit odd,' so took them to the bank to check and then sent them to the shop's head office.

The duo then switched their attention to Stratford where Palmer bought something for £1.99 from the Motor World store and pocketed the change from another forged £20.

But the manager of Dillons in Stratford town centre was suspicious, so followed them when they left his shop and recovered some forged bank notes from under a traffic cone where he had seen the two men hide them.

When they were arrested, Davidson claimed he had found "a wad of notes" he suspected were fakes, which was confirmed when Palmer tried to pass one which was refused by a shopkeeper, but they continued using them.

Palmer said he had been given three notes which he had been told were fakes and was told to use them in shops to get genuine currency as change.

Judge James Pyke ordered the remaining notes to be destroyed

Jailing the two, the judge said: "Higher courts than this have repeatedly made the point such offences are very serious because they are a threat to the economy."