A BUSINESSMAN caught using counterfeit money in a Derby hotel has been spared being sent to jail.

Derby Crown Court heard police found fake £20 notes in Reece Oliver's wallet after he checked in at the Premier Inn, in Uttoxeter New Road.

Vee Monro, prosecuting, said, when Oliver arrived, he paid the receptionist with three £20 notes and one £10 note.

It was later discovered that one of the £20 notes was fake.

Police were called when Oliver, 20, handed another counterfeit note to a member of staff at the hotel's bar.

Oliver pleaded guilty to tendering a counterfeit currency note and having custody or control of a counterfeit currency note.

He was given a seven-month suspended jail sentence, a four-month curfew, told to do 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £695 costs.

Judge John Burgess told him: "You many not have realised just how serious the offences are.

"Of course, passing off dodgy or counterfeit notes is not as serious as making them but the people who make fake notes are depending on dishonest people like you to keep passing them through the system."

Judge Burgess said the curfew was meant to be a punishment for Oliver – who the court heard attended horse shows which he might now miss.

He said: "This means no Saturday nights out with the lads or with your girlfriend."

The court heard how, after paying for his room, Oliver – who runs his own business – returned to the hotel's reception 10 minutes later to ask if he could exchange some of his money.

It was told he then changed his mind before the receptionist could complete the transaction.

Miss Monro said the receptionist checked the till after being alerted and realised one £20 note was fake.

She said the receptionist knew Oliver had given it to her because he was the only one who had paid cash.

She added that three more fake notes were in his wallet.

Martin Hurst, in mitigation, said it was thought Oliver, of Strelley Village, Nottinghamshire, had come by the notes through his mother's business, where a client had used them.

He said it was important to note Oliver's execution of using the notes was poor and inept and was bound to be caught.

He also added that the case had been "hanging over" him for about a year.

Mr Hurst said: "He demonstrated by his plea he shows genuine remorse."