The court was told how police were said to have found almost 700 fake £1 coins, and equipment to make them, stashed under the bed when they searched the terrace home of Matthew Pollard.

Most of the coins were silver-coloured and could not be handed over in shops or stores but the defendant told officers he had been out spending in pubs around town.

Pollard, 27, said to be hard-up because he was caring for his sick three-year-old daughter and was not getting benefits, was jailed for 18 months.

Sentencing, Recorder Thomas Ryan told Pollard fake coin offences struck at the very root of the system by which we lived and that was why the maximum sentence was 10 years behind bars.

Only custody could be justified.

Pollard, of Hollingreave Road, Burnley, admitted making a counterfeit coin with intent, possessing a counterfeit coin with intent and having an article for counterfeiting coins with intent.

Tim Ashmole, prosecuting, told the court in April police went to the defendant's home.

n the front bedroom they found a large wooden chest containing fake coins.

They also discovered moulds, rubber gloves and other things needed for making coins.

Thirty-seven of the coins were sent for analysis and were found to be counterfeit. They were made from lead. Real £1 coins were made from nickel, copper and zinc.

The moulds were recovered and tested and it was revealed that about a quarter of the coins had not come from them.

Pollard was interviewed and said he had made some of the coins in the box with solder.

He told officers he was going to use them.

He had spent about £30 worth in a few Burnley pubs.

The defendant had a number of aliases and a criminal record.

Roger Brown, defending, said Pollard's three-year-old daughter had had a dislocated hip and had undergone a number of operations at Booth Hall Children's Hospital, Manchester.

He had been the child's carer while her mother was working.

Normally he would have received disability carer's allowance and would have received some benefits for his journeys to Booth Hall.

By the time he committed the offences, he was not getting any benefits and was suffering considerable financial troubles.

Mr Brown said the defendant, who had borrowed cash and bought a kit to make the money, had no means to paint the silver-coloured coins gold.

The offences were a fairly unsophisticated attempt to forge coins and Pollard could not have passed any of the coins in shops.

The solicitor added: "There were a large number of coins but when looked at they couldn't be the real thing. They were the wrong colour."