A MAN carried out a sales con on the streets of Blackburn by using flour and a bag of sugar has been jailed for two years.

In two separate incidents last August Peter McDonagh approached taxi drivers offering a digital camera for sale. But what they got in return was something quite different.

Preston Crown Court heard the men paid out £370 between them.

After his arrest McDonagh offered one of them money in a bid to have charges dropped.

The 22-year-old, of no fixed address, had pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining property by deception.

He also admitted an act tending to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Mohammed Nawaz, prosecuting, said on the first occasion McDonagh even showed a receipt, as well as the digital camera, when offering it for sale.

The taxi driver had at first been sceptical, but was persuaded to pay £200.

When the man later checked his "bagged up" purchase he found he had bought nothing but self-raising flour.

The second driver paid out £170 for what he thought was a digital camera.

But on checking the bag he discovered he had bought a bag of sugar.

Following his arrest the defendant was later picked up in a taxi by one of the men.

He asked the man to drop the charges and promised to give his money back, even trying to push £200 into his hand. However, the man refused and told the police.

McDonagh also appeared for sentence for disqualified driving, not having insurance, a burglary and another charge of burglary with intent to steal.

One of the offences involved him stealing a wallet and mobile phone from a man at his workplace.

The burglary with intent occured at the White Bull pub on Livesey Branch Road, Blackburn.

The landlady heard someone trying to break a kitchen window and McDonagh ran off.

Mr John Maxwell, defending, said the defendant had managed to rid himself of drugs during the three and a half months he had spent on remand.

He had a firm resolve to steer clear of them in the future.

The judge, Mr Justice Astill, jailed McDonagh for a total of two years.

At the time of the offences, police in East Lancashire issued a warning after a series of similar offences involving people handing money over from electrical equipment which turned out to be bags of flour.