Card scam man jailed.

A bankrupt businessman once forced into crime by ruthless Turkish gangsters has been jailed for staging his own international credit card scam.

Anthony True had an earlier fraud conviction quashed after appeal judges heard underworld crime lords vowed to kill him and rape his relatives unless he joined their racket.

But just two months after winning his freedom, the father of two was caught at Newcastle Airport in September 2002 with five cloned cards and pounds 4,500 worth of forged travellers cheques.

A Newcastle Crown Court jury found him guilty of two charges of having a false instrument with intent.

And it rejected the 38-year-old's claim he had been given the cards and cheques and thought they were genuine.

Jailing him for 15 months, Judge Michael Cartlidge said: "The potential for the misuse of five credit cards is very great indeed. It requires the court to impose a custodial sentence."

Police intercepted True, of Shakespeare Avenue, Hebburn, as he was preparing to board a flight to Turkey.

True's brush with gangsters from his Turkish homeland started after they took over his debts when his leather importing business hit trouble in 1998.