A PREGNANT fraudster who tried to cheat a supermarket with fake Scottish notes has been locked up for her scam.

Jennifer Collins travelled to the city before attempting to cash in on a £45 DVD player at Cowley's Tesco superstore.

The 32-year-old, who is due to give birth in October, was punished for her offending and jailed for 16 months on Tuesday.

Collins strolled into the Ambassador Avenue store, approaching the tills with the electronic device at about 4pm on April 11 last year.

The defendant tried to pay for the DVD player with £50 worth of fake bank notes before a cashier became suspicious of their 'strange waxy feel', prosecutor Robert Lindsey told Oxford Crown Court.

The mother-of-four was escorted to a room at the back of the store after the cash was examined, refusing to disclose her details to staff as they waited for police.

Collins was also caught with fake Scottish bank notes in Leatherhead, Surrey, while officers were on patrol in the town's Church Street on August 27 last year.

Police spotted the fraudster sitting with another woman in a vehicle with 'extensive damage', which was parked in a disabled bay.

The defendant claimed she could not reveal why she was in the area as she had been asleep, becoming resistant towards officers before complying.

Officers discovered £1,010 worth of counterfeit Scottish bank notes hidden within a plastic bag near the front passenger seat, the court was told.

Defence barrister James Partridge said Collins has battled a 13-year heroin addiction and has been on a methadone prescription while on remand on HMP Bronzefield in Surrey.

Collins was told to spend the fake bank notes by another woman in return for change from the cash or items purchased, the barrister claimed.

The court was told plans will be made to allow the pregnant defendant, of Quinton Close, Southsea, Hampshire, to care for her newborn while serving her jail-term.

Collins, whose previous convictions included shoplifting, failing to surrender and having a counterfeit currency note, admitted tendering counterfeit currency and possessing counterfeit currency with intent to tender it.

Judge Ian Pringle QC ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the bank notes.