Briton jailed for 10 years in Morocco after buying a drink with counterfeit money
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A British tourist has been jailed for 10 years after being arrested for using counterfeit cash to buy a drink in a Moroccan nightclub.
Oliver Andrews, 29, from Bournemouth in Dorset, previously spent five months remanded in custody on charges of using the notes in November last year.
Andrews was arrested with a friend just hours before he was due to return from Marrakech to the United Kingdom.
The pair were convicted and sentenced to a decade behind bars on April 11.
Oliver Andrews suffers from a condition which affects his heart
Andrews has maintained he did not know the notes were forgeries.
Alanna Cornick, Andrews’ partner, said after sentencing: “I’ve been an absolute mess.
“I’m lost for words – I literally can’t believe it.”
Cornick also claimed her partner’s 10-year sentence was the “worst possible outcome”.
She previously wrote on Facebook: “We all know that this situation of paying with cash of which some of it turns out to be a counterfeit can happen to absolutely anyone.”
Andrews also alleged that he was subject to maltreatment from Moroccan police.
Neither defendant was granted access to an official translator or lawyer when they faced questioning, reports have claimed.
Andrews’ family have argued the 29-year-old was “pressured into signing foreign paperwork” which he did not fully understand.
Oliver Andrews is a 29-year-old from Bournemouth in Dorset
The family added that Andrews suffers from a condition which affects his heart but his health is at risk as he has not been able to access his tablets for more than a month.
The 29-year-old also claimed he has received no help from the British authorities.
Cornick told the BBC: “We just want the embassy to do their job and go and visit him, and make sure to check his welfare.
“The condition that he’s living in is just heart-breaking on a daily-basis.”
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office says it has provided assistance to Andrews.