Little and Large exam cheats exposed by the Chinese checkers

Fearing he would fail the degree paper at York University, Qiu Shi Zhang persuaded Xin Zhang to sit in his place.

However, although the two Chinese students shared a surname, they had little else in common.

While Qiu is 5ft 9in tall and weighs 13 stone, his friend is three inches shorter - and four stones lighter.

So when an exam invigilator glanced at the student identity card on Xin's desk, he noticed immediately that he did not resemble the man in the photo.

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Police were called and after Xin admitted he was an imposter, Qiu was found loitering nervously outside the exam hall.

Yesterday, both students appeared before a court on fraud charges and face being deported back to China in shame.

York magistrates heard how economics student Qiu, 23, was crumbling under the pressure of taking his final year exams at the city's university after regularly skipping lectures and struggling throughout the course.

The evening before his three-hour business finance exam he had 'something of a breakdown' and hatched the ludicrous scam, believing he was doomed to fail if he sat the test the following afternoon.

Qiu logged on to the Internet and discussed his plight with friend Xin, a 24-year-old studying marketing at Birmingham University, over a messaging service.

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Prosecutor Simon Ostler said Qiu persuaded his friend to come up from Birmingham to sit the exam, even though Xin had little hope of passing it himself.

Once the invigilator had checked the identity card that all students had to place on their desks, Qiu's economics tutor Patrick Marsh was called to confirm that the candidate sitting the test was not who he claimed to be.

"The man stood in front of me was definitely not Qiu," said Mr Marsh.

"The police were called and they admitted their guilt there and then.

"He had sat impersonating his friend until he was discovered at the end of the exam. I'm surprised they would do that."

There was no money involved in the scam - it was simply one friend doing another a favour, the court was told.

Xin admitted fraud and Qiu pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the fraud.

Both were sentenced to 100 hours' community service and ordered to pay £35 costs. Magistrate Joan Visick told them: "You now appreciate this has been a rather nasty fraud - totally unacceptable."

Although they share the same last name, the students are not related. They come from the same province and knew each other before travelling to the UK to study.

John Howard, defending, said the pair admitted their guilt immediately and the 'unsophisticated' plan was a one-off.

He added: "They accept they have undermined the exam system. They both feel their education in this country has come to an end. It is highly unlikely that anything similar will happen again."

The students, whose education was being funded by their parents, are likely to return home to China after completing their sentence without being awarded degrees.