Ross lookalike denies fraud and wallet theft

A “LOOKALIKE” of Friends actor David Schwimmer has denied a string of fraud and theft offences.

Iranian Abdulah Husseini made a brief appearance via a video link from HMP Wormwood Scrubs in London to deny the charges.

Judge Beverley Lunt, hearing the case at Preston Crown Court, said: “Is this the Ross from Friends case?” at which point the defendant started to giggle and put his hand over his mouth.

Joe Allman, prosecuting, replied: “It is the one with the doppelganger, your honour.”

The 36-year-old defendant, from Tehran, pleaded not guilty to the theft of a wallet in Blackpool on September 20, last year.

He also denied five fraud offences by allegedly using or attempting to use a stolen Halifax bank card on 17 occasions in shops between September 20 and November 5, last year. Social media users first pointed out the likeness of the defendant to Schwimmer’s character Ross Geller in the US sitcom when police in Blackpool posted an image, inset, of a man leaving a restaurant and carrying what appeared to be a carton of beer cans. Schwimmer later responded by posting a video to his Twitter account that showed him scurrying through a convenience store carrying a carton of beer before looking up furtively at a CCTV camera.

The defendant, from Spencer Road, Slough, west London, is currently serving a jail sentence. A trial date was set for July 4.