Cousins who pretended to be bin men so they could trick neighbours out of bottles of Champagne, wine and money have avoided jail.

Terrance and George Smith knocked on doors in Godalming Avenue, Wallington, and told people they were bin men collecting Christmas tips on December 8 last year.

One neighbour became suspicious and called police who found the cousins still knocking on doors in the road. George Smith, 36, of Canal Walk in Croydon, was caught dressed up as a bin man and holding a bucket wrapped in Christmas paper and filled with £18 of donations and had £70 in notes in his pocket.

Terrance Smith, 26, who lives in a caravan in the back garden of his brother's house in Selbourne Square, Godstone, was caught with bottles of wine and champagne he had been given.

Both admitted fraud by false representation but claimed they were told to do it by someone else.

Sentencing Terrance Smith, chairman of the magistrates Philip Knowles said: "We're dealing with a case of fraud here. It's a serious offence - taking advantage of people to get money for yourself.

"We've heard you may have been asked by someone else to do it but the fact is you still did it."

Terrance Smith, who the court heard is severely dyslexic, has a bad foot and steel rods in his arms meaning he cannot work, was sentenced to four months' supervision and fined £145, at Croydon magistrates' Court today.

George Smith was sentenced to six months' unpaid work at a hearing on January 28. George Smith was also fined and banned from keeping horses for a year after admitting two counts of animal cruelty earlier this month.

The Croydon man viciously whipped his pony as he tried to make a swift getaway with a stolen flower stall Rosehill, Sutton in June last year.

He was caught on CCTV whipping the pony so hard it cracked its hide after the stolen stall got stuck on a speed bump.

Terrance Smith has several previous convictions but his defence lawyer said his not getting in trouble with police since his release from prison in 2011 represented an improvement.

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