A "SOPHISTICATED" serial conman who went on a £3,500 trail of deceit has been given his second jail term in a week.

Burnley magistrates heard Robert William Millar, 23, used a false name and tricked two Rossendale hotel bosses by running up huge bills.

Prosecutor Carl Gaffney said Millar also targeted a friend, hiring a car in his name, and took on the identity of the man's mother's ex-partner to get a credit card and loans.

One of his victims, the owner of Horncliffe Mansions hotel, Rawtenstall, today branded Millar 'cheeky' for deceiving her, but added that she felt sorry for him.

The defendant was jailed for five months to be served on top of the five months he was given on January 13 for driving while disqualified.

Millar, of Broadway, Haslingden, admitted two charges of obtaining services by deception at Horncliffe Mansions and Sykeside Hotels between July 27 and 29 last year. He asked for 28 offences to be considered.

Mr Gaffney said Millar was stopping at a hotel and planning to pay by credit card.

The owner did not make as many inquiries as she might, because she had been told the guest was going to a funeral.

The hotel boss eventually made some credit card checks and found the number would not go through.

Later that day she spotted the defendant in town and pointed him out to a police officer.

Millar was arrested and and was found to have done the same thing twice in as many days.

Mr Gaffney explained that Millar had also applied for a credit card and loans in somebody else's name.

The prosecutor described the offences as sophisticated and went on: "These were not one-off, not spur of the moment.

"The defendant was not perhaps a chancer, but had taken the trouble to physically apply for the card and got it." Lee Hammond, defending, said Millar fully co-operated with police and went through all the offences with them.

He wanted to clear all the offences up so that he could leave jail with a clean slate.

Speaking after the case, Jane Taylor, proprietor of Horncliffe Mansions, in Bury Road, Rawtenstall, said: "We are putting the whole thing down to a bad judgement of character.

"However it's something we would be more aware of now."