ELDERLY people in East Lancashire were conned out of thousands by 'greedy and unscrupulous' brothers in an under-floor heating scam.

Victims were told by Nathan and John Henry King they had the solution to the problem of heat loss at their park mobile homes.

The Kings also spread scare stories that jacks supporting the homes needed replacing and were in danger of collapse unless repaired.

Residents living in Swinnel Brook Park in Haslingden, Gawthorpe Edge in Burnley and Dales View at Salterforth were among those hit.

Newcastle Crown Court heard a 74-year-old lost £17,400, a 65-year-old woman was conned out of £9,500 and two women were defrauded out of £6,600 each.

Nathan King, 38, from Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, and John King, 34, from Coventry, who traded as Guardian Park Homes Ltd, were each jailed for 30 months for fraud offences.

Their foreman, Leon Williams, 34, also from Coventry,was given a 10 month prison term, suspended for two years, and a 200-hour community service order, for his role in the fraud.

Prosecutors from North Yorkshire Trading Standards, who were supported by Lancashire Trading Standards in the case, estimate that the brothers amassed more than £100,000 through their misleading operation.

Victims were charged grossly inflated amounts for poor quality and unnecessary work, or work that provided none of the claimed benefits, the court heard.

Jailing the Kings, Judge Stephen Ashurst said: “This is in my judgement a bad case of its type. You are brazen, greedy and unscrupulous men.”

Speaking after the hearing Paul Noone, head of Lancashire’s trading standards service, said: “This case shows how some unscrupulous individuals are willing to take advantage of our most vulnerable residents for their own gain with no thought for the financial impact and distress they cause.”