A PROLIFIC conman who targeted an East Lancashire firm has been jailed after passing himself off as a forensic investigator for 26 years.

Gene Morrison, described in court as a Walter Mitty character and a "complete charlatan", earned at least £250,000 for his "expertise".

Warton Metal Ltd, based in Commerce Street, Haslingden, was one of the many firms and individuals Morrison tried to con.

Morrison also targeted the judiciary by falsely claiming he was an expert witness who could supply reports to solicitors for use in defending their clients on serious crime charges.

The court was told that 48-year-old Morrison, from Hyde, "hoodwinked" his victims.

He had no qualifications and showed clients a "worthless" doctorate he bought over the internet.

Morrison referred to himself as Dr Morrison, even used the motto "Exposing Unrighteousness for the Sake of Righteousness" in his sales pitch, a court heard.

At Manchester Crown Court this week Morrison was found guilty of 20 charges of obtaining money and property by deception, perverting the course of justice and perjury. He was jailed for five years.

After the case, Det Supt Martin Bottomley said: "His entire working life has been based on a web of lies and deceit.

"Morrison shamelessly fleeced innocent victims, including a grieving family, out of many thousands of pounds and, in the process, has hoodwinked courts across the country."

Bosses at Warton Metal Ltd said they would like to put the "very unpleasant episode" behind them.

In 2002, Morrison was approached by Warton Metal to carry out some lie-detector tests on staff to track a suspected thief.

Morrison claimed he was a criminal psychologist with experience in lie detector testing, and charged £1,700.

But bosses became suspicious when he arrived with only a laptop and microphone and asked staff irrelevant questions.

The court heard how Morrison had hired the equipment from a firm named Spies R Us, carried out no tests because he could not understand it and then concluded: "The thief is definitely a woman - I have spent time here and touched everybody."

Morrison later sued Warton Metal for non payment but lost the case at Tameside County Court after lying to the judge by saying he had a BSc in social psychology and a PhD in criminal psychology.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Victor Ward, managing director of Warton, said: "From our point of view, it was a very unpleasant episode which would we now like to put behind us.

"I do not know the full details of his other cases, but as far as we are concerned, he has been sentenced, justice has been done, and he now has five years to think about what he did."

Among those duped were criminal lawyers repres-enting clients on a range of charges including drugs offences, robbery and rape.

One grieving couple who asked Morrison to investigate their son's mysterious death were sued by him in a civil court after he tried to charge them £32,000 for work he claimed to have done.

On another occasion he wore a flourescent "forensic investigations" jacket at a meeting with a law firm representing a Lamborghini driver who killed another man in a 120mph smash, who had approached Morrison to give evidence.

Greater Manchester Police described him as a "Walter Mitty character".

Police are now attempting to contact all of Morrison's former clients, to provide evidence over whether there has been a miscarriage of justice in any of the cases involving Morrison.