HIGH pressure salesmanship in a shop is unpleasant enough. In your own home, it becomes something else: bullying.

When Paul Rawson's patter failed to persuade householders to part with large cash sums for a burglar alarm, he started badgering them. He would grind them into submission, keeping one poor woman trapped in her own home for four hours.

These techniques are more akin to interrogating a murder suspect than sealing a sales deal. It was particularly effective when deployed against Rawson's favourite targets: elderly people, often living alone.

As a seller of burglar alarms, he posed as a friend who wanted to keep them safe. All the time he was the one robbing them. He even accompanied one customer to the bank to ensure he got his cash. This is nothing less than extortion.

Rawson is now serving a nine-month jail sentence for his crimes, and he deserves every day inside.

We must pay tribute to North Yorkshire Trading Standards whose diligent prosecution of Rawson, combined with the court's tough sentence, will give other conmen pause for thought.

Trading standards officers have worked hard to prevent vulnerable residents being fleeced by his ilk, via the Doorstopper scheme. Their efforts would be enhanced by tough new laws banning the worst excesses of door-to-door selling and offering consumers more chance to change their minds.

Updated: 10:26 Tuesday, November 23, 2004