A second-hand car dealer who bought a Rover car from a woman in Northamptonshire with forged £20 notes has been jailed for 16 months.

Nathan Hewitt, 24, produced 11 counterfeit notes when he went to buy a purple Rover 211 car for £245 from Louisa Sweetson and also provided her with a false name and address.

Northampton Crown Court heard how he drove off in the car after paying £220 with forged notes and the remaining £25 with genuine £5 notes but left his fingerprints on them.

He had been due to face a jury trial on Wednesday, August 6 but pleaded guilty at the last minute to tendering counterfeit on July 8 last year.

Alexandra Bull, prosecuting, said: "He drove off in the car but when the owner returned to the house and checked the money, she believed it was fake as they all had the same serial numbers."

Hewitt, of Fontwell Close, Bedford was arrested in October once officers had investigated the fingerprints on the counterfeit notes and the note with a false name and home address.

He initially denied being the man who had bought the car, making no comment when interviewed by police.

The court heard how he then sold on the car which had to be retrieved with Miss Sweetson having to even pay £150 to have it returned from the police compound.

Passing sentence and rejecting the need for a probation report, Judge Ian Alexander QC said Court of Appeal guidelines meant a prison sentence was a certainty.

He added: "These notes are pretty good at first glance.

"In the Lord Chief Justice's words, anybody who uses counterfeit money commits a serious offence because it undermines the whole financial stability of the country.

"Anybody using counterfeit notes, certainly with the quality with which you did, must inevitably go to prison."

Matthew Kirk, mitigating, said the father-of-two had struggled with his second-hand car business since being released from a six-year sentence for wounding.

He said: "He indicates that a friend of his who worked in a garage showed him the notes which had been passed to and offered to sell them to my client. There is just a possibility of suspending the sentence as it marks the seriousness of the offence and satisfies the requirements of the Court of Appeal."