A CONMAN who was trying to cash bogus cheques in town centre banks has walked free from court.

Stefan Anno had fake passports in different names as he tried to plunder thousands of pounds from business accounts.

But the 44-year-old was rumbled by eagle-eyed bank staff and when he was arrested soon after he was found with more dodgy documentation.

Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how Anno went into NatWest in Commercial Road at lunchtime on August 21 last year.

He produced a cheque in the name of Future Clean for £4,000 in cash and handed over a passport, which contained his picture, bearing the name Andrew Jones.

The cashier noticed the cheque had not been signed and after handing it back was not happy with it's authenticity or that of the passport.

He took it to the back of the bank for checking but when he returned five minutes later Anno had gone, leaving the documents behind.

Half an hour later he was in Lloyds on Regent Street pulling the same scam with a £4,000 cheque from Calibration Centre and a passport in the name Paul Hanlon.

The teller was again unhappy with the paperwork as the cheque did not have the correct watermark and again after 10 minutes the defendant left.

But the police had been alerted and town centre CCTV operators located him and police moved in to arrest him.

When he was searched he was found to have an iPad containing details of other people's accounts as well as bank cards and driving licences in other names.

It was then found that he had been involved in a similar operation in Norwich a week earlier.

He told police he had a drugs debt and was being forced to do it, though Miss Marlow said evidence on his telephone suggested he was 'as equally involved as others'.

Anno, of Northampton, pleaded guilty to three counts each of fraud, possessing an article for use in fraud and possessing ID with improper intentions.

Rob Ross, defending, said his client had made full and frank admissions to the police about what he had been up to after he was arrested.

He said he had served 70 days in custody on remand before being granted bail which was the equivalent of a five month sentence.

When he has completed whatever he is ordered to do by the court he said he hoped to return to live in Spain where he has worked in the music business.

Passing sentence Recorder Simon Levene said "I don't entirely go along with the suggestion that you were in this simply because of threats.

"It was, if not sophisticated, persistent, but I take into account that you didn't get any money out of these offences."

He imposed a 26 week jail term suspended for a year and told him he must complete a thinking skills programme and be under supervision.