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'Ross from Friends lookalike' Abdulah Husseini denies fraud charges

A "lookalike" of Friends actor David Schwimmer has denied a string of fraud and theft offences.

Iranian Abdulah Husseini appeared briefly by video link from HMP Wormwood Scrubs in west London to deny the charges.

Judge Beverley Lunt, hearing the case at Preston Crown Court, said: "Is this the Ross from Friends case?"

The defendant started to giggle and put his hand over his mouth.

Joe Allman, prosecuting, replied: "It is the one with the doppelganger, your honour."

Husseini, 36, from Tehran, appeared with a shaved head and wore grey tracksuit bottoms and a blue shirt as he pleaded not guilty to the theft of a wallet in Blackpool on 20 September last year.

During the hearing he also denied five fraud offences for allegedly using or attempting to use a stolen Halifax bank card on 17 occasions in shops between 20 September and 5 November last year.

Users on social media first pointed out the likeness of the defendant to Schwimmer's character Ross Geller in the US sitcom when police in Blackpool posted an image of a man leaving a restaurant and carrying what appeared to be a carton of beer cans.

Schwimmer posted a video to his Twitter account that showed him scurrying through a convenience store carrying a carton of beer before looking up furtively at a CCTV camera in response to the social media comments.

No application for bail was made by the defendant, from Spencer Road, Slough, who is currently serving a jail sentence.

A trial is due to begin for the Blackpool theft and fraud offences on 4 July.