Barry McGuiness, 27, and Peter Higham, 28, dressed up in uniforms and visited stations across the North West.

They tricked officers into handing over off-duty clothing saying they would donate it to their American counterparts from the Twin Towers disaster.

But the pair were spared prison after Liverpool Crown Court heard it was an "obsession which had got out of hand".

The alarm was raised aftear they turned up at Leigh Fire Station in St Helens Road spinning a yarn and the crew there sensed there was something amiss.

After the hearing a spokesman for the station said: "The arrived purporting to be from Merseyside Fire Service and said they were travelling to New York on a fund-raising trip for charity.

"But it just didn't seem right, not least because there seemed to be a mismatch in the uniforms they were wearing.

"We contacted Merseyside at which point they said there had been a number of other incidents of a similar nature."

The court heard both men had been fire service enthusiasts from a very young age and simply wanted to collect the uniforms.
Instead they were banned from possessing any emergency services memorabilia

Imposing community sentences, Judge David Swift said: "You are cousins who both seem obsessed with the fire brigade, fire engines and firefighters.

"As a result of this you embarked on conduct which otherwise is almost inexplicable."

He told the pair, who had both attended specialist schools, they needed help for their "strange behaviour".

The judge placed McGuiness under 18 months' supervision, while Higham was ordered to do 100 hours' unpaid work in the community as part of an 18-month community sentence.

He also imposed five-year criminal anti-social behaviour orders (CRASBO) banning the cousins from possessing any emergency services insignia, wearing uniforms or posing as any member of the emergency services.

Cathy Mitchell, prosecuting, told the court that between November 2007 and March 2008 McGuiness made 19 different visits to fire stations, including Leigh's.

When police searched their homes, they discovered McGuiness, of St Domingo Vale, Everton, had 10 items of fire service uniform and another piece of bus company uniform.

Higham, of Rollo Street, Kirkdale, was storing 54 items of fire service clothing, four items from the police, 10 pieces of ambulance clothing and 10 from a bus company.

The milkman admitted seven counts of fraud, while McGuiness pleaded guilty to 19 charges.
Julian Linskill, defending McGuiness, told how his client was undergoing diagnosis for Asperger's syndrome.
He added: "This could account for his obsessional interest in firefighters."

He told how McGuiness had never taken any operational clothing or equipment and had never posed as a firefighter at an emergency.
Alaric Walmsley, defending Higham, added: "This enthusiasm for the fire service seems to have recently got out of hand."

The Leigh Fire Station spokesman said afterwards: "There is a message here for the public too.
"A real firefighter, if he were to turn up at premises, for example, to service machinery, would always carry identification.
"There will be a number on there so you can verify the details."