Man jailed for forging Churchill's autograph

An antiques dealer who duped unsuspecting book collectors by forging signatures including those of Sir Winston Churchill and Robert Louis Stevenson has been jailed for 10 months.

Allan Formhals, 66, purchased books and magazines in car boot sales and a recycling centre before adding the signatures in his own hand and then sold them on eBay to collectors as rare signed editions.

He made £6,967 by defrauding two collectors after also lying about the provenance of the items, Southampton Crown Court heard.