A FRAUDSTER who claimed he did not know the £20 notes he tried to spend in a supermarket were forged has been labelled a liar by a judge.

Mark Travis's excuse was branded "a nonsensical cock-and-bull story" when he appeared to be sentenced at Teesside Crown Court.

Travis claimed he had received the money a short time earlier from a stranger to whom he sold a motorbike and a computer games console.

He said he did not know the buyer's name, and could not remember where he had advertised the items for sale, the court heard yesterday.

Judge Peter Bowers also heard that Travis could not recall the registration number of the motorbike - because it belonged to his brother.

The judge told 29-year-old house-husband Travis: "Next time you come to court, don't come with a cock-and-bull story like that.

"Your basis of plea bears little relation to reality or common sense. If you are receiving cash from a purchaser of property, you would at least look at it.

"If it was so obvious to the cashier, and you, when you were counting it out, you must have realised that before you went to Asda.

"If that is the situation, the whole basis of your plea is completely false . . . it sounds a totally nonsensical story, quite frankly."

The court heard how Travis tried to use the forged notes to buy a surround-sound system on December 3 at the store in Hartlepool.

After the check-out assistant immediately spotted the money was fake, Travis said: "I've got more and they better not be forgeries."

Police were called to the store on Marina Way, and Travis was found to have a further £120 of poor quality dud notes, the court was told.

He told officers that he had sold the motorbike and X-Box to an unknown man whose number he had deleted from his mobile phone.

Father-of-three Travis, of Stirling Street, Hartlepool, admitted fraud and was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for a year.

Judge Bowers also imposed a six-week curfew between 8pm and 6am after hearing he could not do unpaid work, and told Travis: "Sort your life out."

Rebecca Smith, mitigating, said community work would not suit him as he is the chief carer for a young daughter while his wife works.