An 83-year-old pensioner from Chiswick has pleaded guilty to being a member of a money counterfeiting gang which produced bogus notes worth millions of pounds.

A court heard Dennis Hancox's Bolton Road address was used as the home for a new £12,500 toner fuser machine, where the forged notes could be foiled and finished.

Officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency recovered 30,053 fake £20 notes as well as 125,482 counterfeit 50 Euro notes after they arrested the gang between June and October 2007.

A second Chiswick man, Michael Duffy, 60, of Claremont Grove, also appeared in court last Thursday after admitting his role in the plot.

The jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court heard the value of the faked sterling came to around £600,000 while the rest was worth a whopping 6,274,100 Euros.

Ronan McClintock, of the Bank of England's bank notes research and development department, told jurors last week how the gang was definitely a 'professional organisation'.

"A more professional counterfeiter will graphically manipulate certain elements of the bank note so they stand out like they do on a genuine note," he said.

But Mr McClintock told the court how certain details on genuine £20 notes were missing from the gang's forgeries, such as the ink used and the quality of the watermark.

Genuine notes are printed on cotton based paper which only the Bank of England has access to, he added.

The jury heard how the counterfeiting operation began in Glasgow in October 2006 before the decision was made to move production to Hancox's Chiswick home a month later.

Both Chiswick men have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deliver counterfeit notes, along with eight other members of the gang. Three other men deny the charges. The trial continues.