Fake cash paid to escort
MEN ARRESTED AT HEATHROW HOTEL FOR USING DODGY £50 NOTES TO PAY FOR MASSAGE
A DUO who called an escort to a hotel near Heathrow Airport and paid her with fake money have been ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work.
Charlie McDonagh and Wesley Maughan gave the escort £200 in fake Bank of Ireland notes for the services provided at the Mercure Hotel, in Shepiston Lane, Hayes, on January 5 this year.
She was suspicious of the four £50 notes and called police, who arrested McDonagh, 21, and Maughan, 18, in the early hours of the next day in the standard twin bedroom they had booked for the night.
Police found £5,900 worth of counterfeit money inside the hotel room – made up of 118 counterfeit £50 Bank of Ireland notes, each with the same serial number.
McDonagh, from Northern Ireland and who is currently living in Basildon, Essex, and Maughan, who is from Ireland, both pleaded guilty to one count of possessing counterfeit money.
They were each given 14 month jail sentences, suspended for two years, at Isleworth Crown Court on Wednesday November 7.
As part of their punishment they were ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work.
The judge ordered the fake money to be destroyed.
Nim Hennessy, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Charlie McDonagh and Wesley Maughan were found with thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit money at the Heathrow hotel room they were staying at.
“The pair initially claimed the money was already in the hotel room before they arrived and that they had simply found and used it
They later changed their story and admitted to possessing the fake currency, even paying the escort for massages with it.
“Using counterfeit money is a form of fraud and forgery and the CPS will prosecute those who break the law.”