A DRUG user who used fake £50 notes to buy a greetings card for his wife and place a bet on a horse has been jailed for a total of 60 months.

Anthony Joyce of Redbridge Hollow, who also tried to buy cigarettes with a fake note, admitted three counts of tendering counterfeit currency on March 16 and 17, 2015.

A further four offences relating to the use of counterfeit notes and one offence of theft were taken into account when Joyce, 29, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday.

David Jones, prosecuting, told the court Joyce had walked into Premier News in Chalgrove in March last year and asked for 10 cigarettes, which he tried to pay for with a £50 note.

The shop assistant noticed the note appeared fake and handed it back to him.

He then travelled to the Rhubarb Tree gift shop in Watlington, where he used a fake £50 note to buy a greetings card for his wife worth £5.25.

He used another fake £50 note to place a £10 bet on a horse with 20-1 odds in Betfred in Headington.

The court heard Joyce had already served three prison sentences and had been convicted of past offences including theft and robbery.

Ronan McCann, defending, said his client used the drug spice, formerly a legal high.

He told the court Joyce was meeting with probation rehabilitation specialists and that no further offending had taken place since he was given an "ultimatum" by his wife.

Mr McCann said: "These are not particularly sophisticated offences in circumstance and nature and also in scope."

Judge Peter Ross said he had no option but to send Joyce to prison and sentenced him to 20 months for each offence, to be served concurrently.

He said: "The Crown can say with certainty that you must have had at least three counterfeit notes in your possession.

"I have thought long and hard since I read the pre-sentence report as to whether there was an alternative disposal that would have been suitable in your case.

"I have concluded that there is not."

He noted Joyce had admitted the offences to police in November but then pleaded not guilty, not changing his plea until the case was listed for trial.

He said: "You were simply intending to delay and delay, hoping no doubt something would happen, some witness might not turn up."

Judge Ross added some time Joyce had spent wearing an electronic monitoring tag would be taken into account and could be deducted from his prison sentence.