BANK-NOTE FORGER SENTENCED

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 52, 24 November 1928, Page 9

BANK-NOTE FORGER SENTENCED

WONDERFULLY CLEVER IMITATIONS

(Australian Press Association.) London, November 22. The most expert forger known in Loudon for thirty-five years was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for forging currency notes. The remarkable feature is that all were done by hand with a drawing pen, varying inks, and a magnifying glass. Each was so perfect that the banks had the utmost difficulty in detecting them. It was revealed that they were first pencil-traced from a genuine note, and then inked.

The forger showed extraordinary cleverness iu simulating watermarks by painting with grease. The forgeries were reaching the Bank of England every week when the man was arrested with nearly a hundred half-finished notes In his possession. The name of the forger is William Reynolds, aged 56, a slight, greyhaired man with the look of a student. It is revealed that a woman was recently sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for passing Reynolds's notes. She was remarkably loyal to Reynolds, refusing to divulge bis whereabouts or liny information about him. The Judge, after carefully examining a confessed forgery, said that it baffled him.