FOUR people have been found guilty over a plot to con elderly and vulnerable into paying for worthless damp proofing.

Police said banking for the damp-proofing scam was being run from an address in Clitheroe and it was alleged the gang hit 1,500 victims a year, including pensioners in Accrington, Blackburn, Clitheroe and Burnley.

A jury at Preston Crown court heard how smooth talking salesmen posed as surveyors and used various company names to cover their tracks.

Prestigious London addresses were used but were just fronts with the fraud being run from Portugal.

Customers were conned out of a total of £1.5m by the scam, which was designed to "extract as much money as possible" from its victims, the court was told It is alleged that the fraudsters injected water into the walls at the homes of victims, many of them elderly.

Doorstep salesmen offered to carry out a free damp check and then used high-pressure sales tactics to persuade them to have damp-proofing work carried out, often at an extortionate cost, police said.

Jurors found the three defendants guilty of obtaining money by deception and money laundering.

Sarah Hudson, 26, of no fixed address and Mark Hudson, 21, of Castle View, Clitheroe, were remanded in custody for sentencing on March 17.

Another man, Joseph O'Toole, 49, of Dearden Avenue, Little Hulton, Manchester, was found guilty of the deception charge, while Daniel Sharples, 21, of Cardigan Avenue, Clitheroe, was acquitted.

Scott McGrory, 35, of Holyhead Road, Albrighton, Wolverhampton was found guilty on a jury's majority verdict of conspiracy to obtain property by deception. He has been bailed for sentencing next month by Judge Robert Brown.

The judge in the Preston Crown Court trial had already directed them to return a not guilty verdict in relation to a second charge of conspiracy to launder money.

The jury will resume deliberations on Monday in relation to another defendant, Paul Markey, 33, of Belvedere Avenue, Stockport.

Paul Reid QC prosecuting, told the jury the fraud was created and organised by Nigel Hudson, the father of Mark Hudson.

Nigel Hudson has previously pleaded guilty to the two charges. In September 2006 he married his long term girlfriend Sarah Stone and she became the second Mrs Hudson. The pair were arrested by the US Marshal Service in Florida.

They were detained at 6 Motel in the Cocoa Beach resort, 15 miles from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre and were extradited back to the UK.

Nigel Hudson organised his fraud under a number of different trading names in order to cover his tracks, the court was told.

Det Con Richard Horton coordinated intelligence from police and trading standards officers from across the North West and Midlands who responded to complaints about the activities of a damp-proofing company.

DC Horton, who is based in Accrington, said: "This was a very complex case, involving gathering a lot of evidence and tracing suspects around the country and abroad. It was a nasty and sophisticated scam."

Det Insp Joanne Lightbown, who led the investigation, added: "Lancashire Constabulary has taken the lead in bringing these offenders to justice and ensuring that they are not able to victimise the vulnerable members of communities in the UK."