A FRAUDSTER who tried to steal money by using a false driving licence at an Oswestry bank has been jailed.

Robert Mwangi had used the fake licence in an attempt to have £1,000 transferred into another account.

Alert staff at the Church Street branch of Lloyds Bank questioned 32-year-old Mwangi and called police.

At Shrewsbury Crown Court this week Mwangi was jailed for a total of two years after the court heard he was given a suspended prison sentence for fraud.

Recorder Christopher Millington QC said that when Mwangi was sentenced last year he was told it was his "last chance".

Mwangi was jailed for a total of six months for the latest offences and Recorder Millington activated the 18-month suspended sentence in full, saying that all the sentences would run consecutively.

Mwangi, of Exbridge Walk, Newton Heath, Manchester, had pleaded guilty to being in possession of an identity document with improper intention and fraud by making a false representation at the Oswestry bank on September 10 this year.

Simon Parry, prosecuting, said the defendant had attempted to transfer £1,000 to the bank account of a man he stated was his friend.

He said Mwangi produced a driving licence but staff at the bank realised it was fake and questioned the defendant,

Mr Parry said the driving licence was also in another man's name and Mwangi also initially gave police a false name when they arrived.

It later emerged that the driving licence number did not exist with the DVLA and was entirely fake.

Mwangi, who gave a 'no comment' police interview, had been convicted of possessing false passports and fraud by false representation to obtain mobile phone contracts and given the suspended sentence in September last year.

Mr Adrian Roberts, for Mwangi, said his client was born in Kenya and came to the UK in 2009 in the hope of improving his life.

He said personal problems had landed Mwangi in debt and he also suffered from mental health issues.