AN ASYLUM seeker from Libya who had forged documents and obtained a £15,000 bank loan by deception has been jailed for nine months.

Khaled Muftha AlHamil, 28, of Porchester Place, Bournemouth, admitted possessing a false passport and driving licence and using the passport to open a bank account.

He also admitted obtaining a £15,940 loan by deception.

Brendon Moorhouse, prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, said police searched AlHamil's former Southcote Road flat in January last year and seized the forged documents.

John Upton, defending, said AlHamil had fled his homeland in fear of his life, arrived in this country by lorry and acquired a passport as a form of insurance in case his asylum application was unsuccessful.

But he said AlHamil found it difficult to open a bank account without documentation or history in this country so resorted to using the passport.

He said: "The application for a loan was made in response to marketing. He made one repayment. Given the opportunity, he will repay the rest."

Mr Upton asked Judge Samuel Wiggs to put himself in AlHamil's shoes. He said: "Far from home in an alien culture, by his account unable to return home without his life being in danger and at risk of being sent back there, he was offered the opportunity of a travel document that he knew was false and wrong but that would at least buy him some time in another country."

Judge Wiggs gave credit for AlHamil's guilty plea and previous good character. Sentencing him to nine months in prison, he said he would not face long behind bars because of the time already spent in custody.

He made no order for deportation.

First published: May 24