£500 fine for carnival scam

A conman who convinced a Welsh town that Ali G would attend their carnival fined £500.

Thomas Sinclair even produced a fake contract claiming the comic had agreed to appear at the annual celebrations in Haverfordwest.

But, in fact, he had booked a lookalike - Dat Ali Gee from a Newport agency.

Sinclair, from Milford Haven had been facing a jail term, but escaped with the fine and 40 hours community service.

He had hoped to net £16,000 from the attempted deception, by selling tickets to an evening disco he claimed Ali G would attend.

The 24-year-old had promised organiser David Howlett that Ali G would ride around Haverfordwest on a carnival float and would spend all day at the event.

Judge Mr Recorder Rowlands told him: "The real Ali G would have been a considerable attraction.

"You knew it as a scam but tried to brazen it out by booking an impersonator. You tried to use the carnival for your own ends

"It was a calculated attempt to deceive. You knew full well the real Ali G would not turn up."

But trading standards intervened when a local newspaper got in touch with the agents of Ali G creator Sacha Baron Cohen and uncovered the scam.

Published: 29 Jan 2004