A Harpenden criminal who forged a doctor's letter in an attempt to stay on lighter unpaid work duties was jailed for 18 months on Tuesday.

Kayne Harrison, 41, had carried out more than 53 hours of community payback in a shop, but was unhappy when his probation officers told him he had to do gardening, because he had a bad back.

Instead of going to a doctor for a letter, he forged his own note on old surgery notepaper. The letter was checked and his scam was uncovered. He was arrested in October last year.

St Albans crown court heard he had been sentenced to 18 months suspended for two years with 240 hours' unpaid work and a curfew by a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court on May 25 last year for breaching a restraining order.

Harrison, of Station Road, Harpenden, admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice and being in breach of his suspended sentence.

Judge Stephen Gullick told him: "An offence in relation to perverting the course of justice is always serious. This was a deliberate attempt to excuse your absence from unpaid work. 

"You must understand court orders are there to be obeyed. It was an extremely serious matter, striking at the heart of the criminal justice system."