Conmen fined for selling fake Banksies

A PAIR of "old-fashioned conmen" who pleaded guilty to selling fake prints they claimed were the work of graffiti artist Banksy avoided a jail sentence.

Lee Parker, 45, and Grant Champkins-Howard, 44, sold copies of genuine numbered prints on the internet shopping site eBay, Kingston Crown Court in south west London heard.

Passing suspended sentences of 12 months for both men, Judge Suzan Matthews said: "Neither of you should be under any illusion that I regard both of you as nothing more than a pair of old-fashioned conmen.

"You saw a way, and exploited a way, of making a quick and easy profit."