A FORMER private schoolboy forged bank notes worth £6000 in his Glasgow flat because he was too embarrassed to tell his family that he was on benefits.

Alexander Pacteau, 20, was rumbled by police before he had the chance to try and spend any of the dodgy bills when they were given information that he may be involved in a scam.

Officers searched his Drumchapel flat where they found "equipment consistent" with making fake money.

His unsophisticated money- making scheme involved him electronically scanning £20 notes and cutting out the print outs to pass them off as genuine currency.

Pacteau - who was in a coma for weeks and unable to walk for six months after a serious car accident - was too embarrassed to tell his family that he was on disability benefits and that money was tight.

The 20-year-old pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to printing £20 Royal Bank of Scotland notes on March 1, 2014, that were intended to be used as real notes.

Now first-offender Pacteau, who didn't want to admit to his family he was on benefits, has a criminal record.

He was spared jail by sheriff Sam Cathcart, who handed him a community payback and orderered him to do 225 hours' unpaid work.