A fraudster attempted to take driving theory tests while pretending to be other men after being promised cash and clothes.
Thanh Nguyen was recruited to take part in the scam after fleeing loan sharks, who had trafficked him to the UK from Vietnam in order to work in a drugs farm.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Tuesday, that the 45-year-old sat a driving theory test at the DVSA test centre on Duke Street in Liverpool city centre on November 25 last year. While Nguyen passed the exam, staff became suspicious that he was not the person seen in the photograph on the provisional licence he had presented to them.
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Police were contacted and the defendant fled upon their arrival, but was detained a short distance away. When quizzed, he was able to give the name and date of birth listed on the licence but could not provide the address.
Kate Morley, prosecuting, described how Nguyen had also attempted to take theory tests at centres in Doncaster, London and Carlisle over the previous two months. But he was turned away after similarly presenting provisional licences in other people's names.
Under interview after arrest, the conman said he had been living in Scotland for about a year and met the other men involved at an immigration centre. They had offered him money which he planned send home to his family in Vietnam, while the dad-of-two had also made friends with a Chinese man who had moved to Liverpool and offered to buy clothes for him - his only clothing being items given to him by an asylum seeker charity.
Nguyen - of no fixed address, but previously of Marsh Lane in Bootle - never received his payment as he was either refused entry to the exams or apprehended afterwards. He has no previous convictions,
Charles Lander, defending, told the court: "It is particularly depressing for a man with no previous convictions who is experiencing his first taste of custody in a foreign prison, in a foreign language and away from his family. He wasn't the main man orchestrating these events, there was someone above him.
"He did this to earn money, but earned nothing because he was caught on each occasion. He was trafficked into this county as a result of Vietnamese loan sharks, who wanted to involved him in running cannabis farms.
"He managed to escape from their clutches and that is how he ultimately ended up in Glasgow, being given leave to remain in this country until 2024. Regrettably, when in Glasgow, other people came to him and suggested a way of earning some money and he stupidly agreed to their idea.
"He is keen to lead a law-abiding lifestyle as a painter and house fixer. His dearest wish is ultimately to be reunited with his family and his two children, who he has not seen for a considerable amount of time."
Nguyen, who appeared via video link to HMP Altcourse and was assisted by an interpreter, admitted four counts of fraud. He was jailed for a year and told to pay a victim surcharge.
Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: "The use of motor vehicles on public roads is, of course, potentially extremely dangerous. Before anyone is allowed to take a motor vehicle onto the roads, they have to prove two things - that they know the rules of the road and that they are competent to drive.
"You were part of a scam to bypass step one, the proof that people know the rules of the road. The potential harm in allowing people to drive vehicles when they do not know the rules of the road is obvious to everyone.
"Yours was a key and essential role. Without you, this would never have taken place."
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