A BANKRUPT builder set up a firm just two days after his previous company went bust, a court was told.

Michael Connolly, 43, of Simonstone Lane, Simonstone, was described as a fantastic builder but not a very good businessman, at Burnley Crown Court.

The court was told he flouted the law for about four months, making about £13,000.

Connolly admitted being concerned in the management of a company while an undischarged bankrupt.

He was given an eight-month jail term, suspended for two years, and banned from being the director of a company or taking part in the management of a company without the leave of the court for five years. Connolly must pay £4,000 costs.

Judge Michael Byrne told Connolly that although the offence was serious and merited custody, he had changed his mind about sending him to prison immediately.

The judge said there were exceptional circumstances, but added Connolly may yet end up behind bars. Judge Byrne said: "I am quite satisfied you knew exactly what you were doing. You were an opportunist.

"You saw an opportunity and you took it. You took a chance and it didn't pay off." The court heard how Connolly was made bankrupt for the second time six months after the construction firm was set up.

It had been formed two days after his previous firm went bust and after the defendant had appproached an ex-employee to be sole director of the new firm.

The second company suffered a similar fate as the first in less than a year.

Claire Thomas, prosecuting for the Department of Trade and Industry, said Connolly was made bankrupt for the first time in 1999. It ended in 2002 and he was made bankrupt again on September 23, 2003. He was due to be discharged from his current bankruptcy in April 2009.

In 1998 Connolly was named as a director of Micon Construction Ltd. That company was liquidated on March 12, 2003, and two days later Interior Renewels Ltd was formed.

A sole director named Christopher Taylor was appointed and there was a company secretary. Miss Thomas told the court that in February, 2004, the company went into voluntary liquidation and the liquidator dealt with the defendant.

Connolly later admitted he had been running the company while bankrupt.