Two fraudsters who conned thousands of pounds out of their victims have been stripped of their profits following an undercover investigation by the Manchester Evening News.

Judge Anthony Hammond ordered the two men to pay back almost £50,000 and praised the Evening News for helping to put them in the dock.

The two men were finally being sentenced after a three-year police inquiry triggered by the paper’s investigation, and also received suspended sentences.

Together with a third man, the two fraudsters had pretended to run a crime prevention unit to help children.

They admitted charges of conspiracy to defraud by selling adverts in an anti-drugs booklet aimed at youngsters and customers were misled into believing the publication – never distributed to schools – was backed by police.

The Evening News was alerted to the scam after being contacted by one of the firm’s former workers, and after speaking to several ex-staff reporter Sarah Lester went undercover as a telesales rep to gather information on the firm.

During her training she was given a script designed to convince firms to buy an advert – costing between £99 and £899 – in an anti-drugs booklet which she was told would go out to 300,000 schools across the country.

Judge Hammond said: “The Manchester Evening News and reporter Sarah Lester are to be commended for the steps they took in exposing the way the two companies carried out their businesses.”

Police and trading standards bosses welcomed the sentences and also praised the Manchester paper for its part in exposing the men.

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