A WOULD-be legal executive who used cloned mobile top-up cards to try and fill a "super-charged" Range Rover with petrol was spared custody.

Burnley Crown Court heard how father-of-one Asif Khan, 26, claimed a friend had asked him to take part in the scam and "stupidly" he did.

The court had been told how the defendant was seen by the security manager at Tesco, Rawtenstall, trying to prepay with a number of cards.

Police arrived and 13 cards were recovered, mostly mobile top-up cards and cloned. Khan had not been in trouble for six years.

Khan, of Maldon Street, Rochdale, admitted possessing an article for use in fraud and making a false representation on June 14. He was given a community order, with 100 hours unpaid work and must pay £720 costs.

Sentencing, Recorder Stephen Killeen told the defendant he was said to be at low risk of reoffending, had pleaded guilty and jail was wholly unnecessary.

The judge told Khan: "This is an activity which costs the public thousands and thousands of pounds, and there are many circumstances in which people in your position must be sent to prison to deter others from doing the same thing."

Bob Elias, defending, said Khan had been lent the vehicle to go to a wedding, it used a gallon of petrol every 10 miles and the prospect of filling up such a huge tank was daunting.

The defendant wanted to qualify as a legal executive. Mr Elias said he was hard-working, his wife was pregnant again and he had made a "silly error of judgement".