A PROLIFIC criminal with a history of drug problems has been jailed for more than two years after pleading guilty to a catalogue of counterfeit currency crimes.

Martyn David De-Sandfort Shortell-Campbell was sentenced to a total of two years, four months and 14 days by Judge Richard Parkes at Winchester Crown Court last week.

The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to 20 counts of counterfeit currency crime including two charges of custody and control of items intended to be used in the making or passing of fake notes and one count of making counterfeit currency.

The court heard how Shortell-Campbell, of no fixed address, admitted to tendering fake Scottish £20 notes at shops and businesses in and around Andover in order to make a profit between November 2015 and April of this year.

Anthony Bailey prosecuting said: “He attempts to pass counterfeit notes to shops and to receive change. He made small purchases at petrol stations, shops, pubs, etc for items less than £5 paid for with a Scottish £20 note. On three occasions the defendant targeted charity shops. Clearly what is being sought on each occasion is at least £15 in change.”

Mr Bailey continued to tell the court that Shortell-Campbell committed the first offence while serving a suspended sentence.

He had also been arrested and bailed on four occasions in January and February in connection with counterfeit currency crimes, continuing to commit similar offences while on police bail.

Mr Bailey said: “On April 12, 2016 the police searched a premises pursuant to a warrant. The property was found to be occupied by a lady who said he [Shortell-Campbell] had moved out three days earlier.

“The police searched the premises and found a printer, camera and a number of printed pages in the room recently occupied by the defendant. The printed pages showed images of a Scottish £20 note. The paper seized went off for forensic examination and linked to this defendant by way of fingerprints.”

The seizure led to the defendant being charged with making counterfeit currency but his guilty plea was only to the extent of being involved in the cutting.

Judge Parkes also sentenced Shortell-Campbell for a number of counterfeit currency crimes for which he appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

He was travelling from Andover to Waterloo in June and attempted to buy an item with a counterfeit note.

The guard suspected the note to be fake and alerted the police who were waiting for him when he reached the London station.

Uncut notes to the value of £450 were found in his possession. After charge he failed to attend Westminster Magistrates’ Court and was arrested following a warrant.

Shortell-Campbell has 11 previous convictions for 22 offences.

In December 2013 he was convicted of being concerned in the supply of class A and B drugs and was given a drug rehabilitation order and 12 month sentence suspended for two years – which he was still serving at the time of his first passing counterfeit currency offence.

Barry McElduff, defending, told the court that following the 2013 conviction Shortell-Campbell had stayed clean of drugs and was responding to rehabilitation until he became the victim of a stabbing which caused him to revert to drugs.

Emphasising that the defendant is not a “hopeless case”, Mr McElduff said: “In October 2015 Mr Shortell-Campbell was the victim of a stabbing attack. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and a case of mistaken identity.

“Following that stabbing he fell back in with the wrong crowd and he started using drugs again, simply as a coping mechanism.”

Sentencing him to a total of two years and four months in prison for the counterfeit currency offences, Judge Parkes said: “Counterfeit money causes serious damage to the economy and is treated very gravely by the courts.”

He added an additional 14 days to the sentence for breaching the suspended sentence and ordered forfeiture and destruction of the notes.