NORTH Yorkshire Police caught a former soldier red-handed with forged U.S. Army passes on September 11, York Crown Court heard.

Ex-U.S. military paramedic turned hi-tech graduate Dennis Price, 39, got a "buzz" each time he used the false documents and forged travellers cheques that he made on his computer, York Crown Court heard.

But his months of deception ended on September 11, 2002, when a policeman stopped him for driving whilst disqualified in Harrogate.

Alex Taylor, prosecuting, said officers found two boxes of forged documents in the car boot, including U.S. Army ID passes, travellers cheques and other travelling documents.

A team of detectives from Selby and Harrogate unearthed a trail of deception covering several months from last November and spanning several counties.

One $100 travellers' cheque had been duplicated 160 times.

Price, of Grange Avenue, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to four charges of forgery, obtaining £341.18 by deception from a Tadcaster bank, three charges of attempted deception involving a total of £1,250 and travel agents in Leicester and Manchester and a Grantham post office, driving whilst disqualified and possessing a three-inch serrated blade knife when police stopped him and asked for 42 other offences to be taken into consideration.

Judge Gavin Barr Young jailed him for 18 months to deter others who might use computer knowledge to make forged documents.

"It is open to many people with a reasonable intelligence and reasonable expertise to produce documents that look impressive and genuine, but are untrue," he said. "The law is there ...... to combat that sort of behaviour."

Defence barrister Heather Humpage said Price had seen active service as a paramedic during ten years in the U.S. Army and ten years in the reserves.

Price, who has dual British and American citizenship, returned to England two years ago after gaining a degree in computer technology and was hoping for his daughter to study at Durham University.

When he committed the offences, he got a "buzz" which spurred him on to commit more crimes.

He used the crimes to fund air fares for his family to come to Britain and to get money to send back to them in the States.

At the time, he was suffering from depression. Since being remanded in custody, he had helped other prisoners learn about computers.

Harrogate magistrates heard last month that Price was born in Harrogate to a woman who married an American working at the Menwith Hill U.S. spy base.

Updated: 11:09 Tuesday, October 22, 2002