A HEROIN addict used fake Scottish £20 notes across Andover and Basingstoke to help fund her habit, a court heard.

Shannon Chantelle Violet Stockwell narrowly escaped a prison sentence when she appeared in Winchester Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to five charges of tendering counterfeit currency.

The court heard the 20-year-old passed a fake Scottish £20 note in Basingstoke Debenhams to top up a £5 gift card, effectively gaining the full £20 in return, on four occasions in December.

Prosecuting, Simon Edwards said: “The defendant pleaded guilty to five offences of passing counterfeit currency.

“The first four offences occurred on 9, 10, 11 and 14 December of last year at the Debenhams store in Basingstoke.  Essentially what the defendant was doing was entering the store and tendering fake currency to top up a charge card.

“On December 14 she was detained by store security.”

An investigation by security led them to check their CCTV footage in the days leading up to that date, at which point they found that she had tendered fake notes before.

Stockwell was arrested and gave a no comment interview.

“We are still none the wiser as to where these notes came from,” Mr Edwards continued.

While still on police bail, she then admitted to passing a further counterfeit note at a licensed premises in Hook on New Year’s Eve.

The court heard Stockwell had previously pleaded guilty to four earlier offences of passing counterfeit Scottish £20 notes at stores in Andover in November and, after pleading guilty to those offences, she was sentenced to a community order with a drug rehabilitation requirement for six months.

Mr Edwards also informed the court that Stockwell was convicted of possessing a bladed article in 2010 and received a youth rehabilitation order.

Audrey Archer, mitigating, told the court Stockwell is doing well on the drug rehabilitation programme, has got a part-time job cleaning and is enjoying the community activities required.

She said: “The total value of the notes is £100, she had a long term addiction to heroin and it was as a result of that addiction she came to use those notes.”

Describing the progress made, Miss Archer told the court that at four months into the original drug rehabilitation order, she is free from heroin which for her is good, and she has a methadone prescription.

Despite several absences from appointments, Miss Archer continued: “She is making significant progress in tackling the root cause of her offending and I ask on her behalf that she is allowed to continue on the order.”

Passing what he called a “merciful” sentence, Judge Richard Parkes QC sentenced Stockwell to 12 months in prison suspended for two years.

He said: “Well Miss Stockwell, you have been exceptionally stupid haven’t you?

“You had already pleaded guilty to four offences of passing counterfeit Scottish £20 notes when you committed these five offences, doing exactly the same again by going into the Debenhams store, tendering a Scottish £20 to top up a £5 gift card and coming out with £20.

“My immediate thought was that you needed to go to prison straight away but Miss Archer has persuaded me that you should carry on with your DRR.

“In place of the existing community order, I will sentence you for all nine offences and what I am going to do is pass a prison sentence of 12 months, suspended for two years.

“It is serious that you carried on offending while on bail.”

Judge Parkes also lengthened the time of the drug rehabilitation order to nine months and ordered Stockwell to pay a victim surcharge.

Concluding the hearing, he said:”You must understand that if you commit any other offences within the next two years, your sentence of imprisonment will be brought into force.

“I hope you are going to take advantage of this. I wish you all the best.”