Tony Wise claims he was forced to wear the tracking device by his "scary and intimidating" friend Stephen Pace

Maidstone Crown Court heard how 36-year-old Pace had been ordered to wear the tag for two months after being handed a community order by JPs last summer for perverting the course of justice.

But after being sent home to Cliffe, Kent, to wait for G4 security officers who were to fit the tag, Pace called up 32-year-old Wise and told him to "wear the tag for him".

Wise - who told the court that Pace was a 'large and scary man' - went round to Pace's home and waited for the security officers to come round, claiming he was Pace and even showing them Pace's passport before being fitted with the tag.

Keith Yardy, prosecuting, said: "He (The G4 security officer) met a man who produced a passport in Pace's name and he was fitted with the device."

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But police were called to the address soon after, following a tip off that Pace had vanished and that Wise was wearing the tag.

Elise Jeremiah, defending, said Wise had only agreed to wear the tag after Pace let him stay in his luxury home.

Judge Jeremy Carey, in jailing Wise for three months after he admitted perverting the course of justice, told him: "I am not persuaded that you, being a grown man was not perfectly capable of saying no."

The court heard how Pace died in December last year after going into woods near his home and hanging himself.