HALTON Haven Hospice has reacted with relief to the jailing of notorious conman Colin Moore, writes Stephen Bailey.

He pretended to work for the hospice to get people to advertise with his dodgy publishing business.

Shaun Pollard, fundraising manager for the hospice, said: "For somebody to ride on the back of our good name is to effectively steal from the patients. We were pleased for them that somebody who would try to take advantage of their suffering has been brought to justice."

Moore has been jailed for two-and-a-half years, and has served two previous jail terms for dishonesty. The police got him after an operation that started in April 2004 and involved inquiries from Merseyside to Shropshire.

Neighbours told The World that Moore was involved in a scam using stolen letter headed paper when he lived in Runcorn in the 1980s.

Moore even lied to Warrington Crown Court when he gave his address as a pub he had briefly leased in Liverpool. He had been living in Hough Green in Widnes before his arrest.

A heavily-built 45-year-old, Moore used legal threats to try to bully people into working with him. A Southport printer who was ripped off by Moore for more than £6,000 said: "I can imagine people being intimidated by him because of his sheer size but by the looks of things he is all mouth."

One Widnes mechanic got his money back from Moore by marching him to a cash machine in a headlock.

A Liverpool garage owner also had to use force to get money from Moore after the conman started giving out his address as his own business address to angry people he had cheated.

Dave Thomas, of Northwich Victoria, a football club that Moore dealt with, said: "He caused a lot of people misery. I think people that make a living like this deserve to be in prison."

Moore is also an undischarged bankrupt after running a pub in Bridgnorth, called the Charles Fox.

Locals there remembered him as a boaster who talked about buying pubs but who 'didn't have a pot to p*** in'.

He has also took money from many places in Liverpool.

Tony Lenane, a DJ with KCR in Prescot, said Moore went into a pub in Bootle claiming to represent him and took £165 off the landlord for a charity night that never happened.

"He is the most stupid man," said the DJ, "because he will tell you such blatant lies that you think 'what is going on?'. He is not clever because he keeps getting caught."

Moore's case was investigated by PC Alison Howarth.

Supt Gary Finchitt, head of operations for Halton and Warrington police, said: "PC Howarth has done a great job.

"She has doggedly pursued lines of inquiry, taken statements and interviewed people who are very vulnerable in some upsetting circumstances."

Moore wanted to defend himself initially and even refused to enter a plea at first - he is understood to have studied law during one of his previous jail sentences.

But he was not up to the job and even spelt evidence as 'everdance' in his submissions to the courts.