A SECURITY company boss who conned thousands of pounds out of pensioners in North Yorkshire has been jailed for six months.

Martin West, 40, managing director of Teesside-based Catch Monitored Security Ltd, pleaded guilty to seven charges under the Trade Descriptions Act and one under the Consumer Protection Act.

Leeds Crown Court heard how he taught his sales team to use high pressure techniques to secure sales. Among the victims was a 73-year-old woman with short-term memory loss, who paid £22,000 for alarm systems, upgrades and warranties for her Ripon home.

Judge Sally Cahill described West, from County Durham, as a "thoroughly dishonest man who fully knew what was happening". He was brought to justice after quick-thinking 65-year-old Keith Sutcliffe, of Harrogate, tape-recorded Paul Rawson, who was then working for the company as a salesman, as he tried to sell him a security system.

North Yorkshire Trading Standards launched an investigation after receiving the tape, and Rawson was jailed for nine months after pleading guilty to six charges under the Trades Description Act last year.

One of Rawson's victims was a 70-year-old York woman, from the Micklegate area, whom he preyed on while working for a different company. Rawson persuaded her to withdraw £2,000 in cash from her bank after subjecting her to a four-hour sales pitch.

The court heard that West instructed staff to cold call random numbers and to begin the conversation by asking: "How are you enjoying your retirement?"

The pensioners were then pressured into making an appointment the same day, and sales reps frequently spent hours attempting to convince pensioners to part with thousands of pounds.

West was also ordered to pay a £1,000 fine, and to pay £13,000 costs to the trading standards team. He was also banned from being a company director for two years.

The company, in which he owned a 50 per cent stake, had also admitted 18 charges, and was fined £36,500 and ordered to pay costs of £4,381.

Judge Cahill said: "Mr West is a man who thought he could bully and blag his way past trading standard officers."

Mr Sutcliffe said: "More people should take a stand. I'm very pleased with the result."

Councillor Carl Les, North Yorkshire County Council's executive member for trading standards, said: "The whole company ethos was based on lies and we are delighted that justice has been served."

Graham Venn, head of the county council's trading standards service, said: "It has taken many hundreds of officer hours to put a case together. I cannot praise my officers enough for their diligence and commitment to protecting the North Yorkshire public."

Updated: 09:30 Saturday, February 05, 2005