TWO illegal immigrants will be deported after serving jail sentences for tricking a man out of £20,000.

Mehmet Khasat, owner of the Broadway Dry Cleaners in Bexleyheath, could not believe his eyes as the two conmen first turned a £20 note into £60 and then £1,000 into £3,000 using chemicals and paper.

But car dealer Ebenezer Yomba, aged 46, and teacher Frankie Monthe, aged 35, both from Cameroon, were using an elaborate con, Blackfriars Crown Court was told.

Mr Khasat was so impressed, he scraped together £20,000 from relatives, convinced the pair would turn it into £60,000.

But they told him it could only be done if no-one was watching.

Instead, they fled with his money and Mr Khasat realised he had been tricked.

The pair, who were convicted last month of conspiracy to defraud between October 20 and November 24 last year, were quickly caught but Mr Khasat's money was never recovered.

In Monthe's defence Elizabeth Stratton said he had been a teaching union activist who had fled Cameroon after being arrested for political activities.

He had entered the UK illegally and had concocted the scam when he met Yomba while living in Bexleyheath.

Defending Yomba, Rossano Scamardella said his client had stayed on illegally after entering the UK on a business trip.

Jailing each of the men for three years, Judge Charles Byers ordered their deportation when they were released.

He said although they had used simple materials, the scam had been elaborate and sophisticated.

He said: "You have shown no remorse and little feeling, if any, for the victim."