A BUNGLING fraudster behaved like something from a Carry On movie when he posed as a rich hedge fund manager in a plot to fleece him of more than £200,000, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Paul Hughes was thwarted by suspicious staff at Barclays Bank in Market Street, Bradford, when he turned up with a fake driving licence and a water bill posing as the wealthy banking boss.

Hughes, who was driven to Bradford in his co-accused's Vauxhall van, was arrested at the bank on December 19 last year.

His accomplice, Michael Ward, was apprehended shortly afterwards in the car park at The Park Hotel in Manningham, Bradford, where both men had stayed the night.

Hughes, 36, of Ringwood Road, Netley Marsh, Hampshire, and Ward, 47, of Kendal Avenue, Millbrook, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to fraud. Hughes admitted having a fake identity document.

Both men were yesterday sentenced on a video link from Southampton Crown Court to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with supervision and 180 hours of unpaid work. The case was adjourned last time after Ward accidentally got off the coach in Nottingham when en route to court in Bradford.

Prosecutor Duncan Ritchie said Hughes attended at the bank and presented the fake driving licence and a utility bill, saying he had lost his bank card and wanted to withdraw £25,000 and transfer £180,000.

Bank staff contacted their fraud team and the police were alerted.

Stephen Uttley, Hughes' barrister, said he had acted like "something out of an old fashioned Carry On film."

"It was amateurish, pathetic and never going to succeed," Mr Uttley said.

The idea of Hughes as a wealthy hedge fund boss was "comparing Manchester United to Halifax Town."

Jeremy Barton, for Ward, said he just provided the transport.