POLICE are being urged to pursue a convicted North-East conman who has left a trail of deceit and debts across the North of England.

Serial fraudster Michael Kenny’s latest scams include forging documents to convince a court he is suffering from cancer and salleging an estate agent he owed money to assaulted him.

Kenny - who made national headlines when he falsely claimed to have opened the country's first refuge for male domestic violence victims - has resurfaced in Merseyside after leaving Darlington last year when he was exposed by The Northern Echo.

A new investigation has revealed how Kenny produced fake documents to secure leases on two flats and running up rent arrears.

To avoid eviction from a property in Bradford, West Yorkshire, Kenny produced an email in Bradford County Court allegedly from Marie Curie Cancer Care stating that he was suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma.

However, the charity later said the document was a forgery.

Estate agent Ian Hind, director of Whitegates, in Bradford, eventually secured a repossession order on the property.

But when he went to check Kenny had left, the fraudster was still in the flat.

Although he said he remained several feet away from the tenant at all times, Mr Hind was later visited by police who said they had received an allegation of assault.

Mr Hind told police the allegation was a fabrication and they did not take it further.

The estate agent said Kenny had cost the landlord around £10,000 in unpaid rent and legal fees.

After leaving Bradford, Kenny convinced Bolton-based Simply Residential estate agents he was a suitable tenant for a top-floor flat in St Helens, Merseyside.

The conman told staff at both Simply Residential and Whitegates that he was the sales manager for a large business solutions company, B1 Infinity.

When checks were made on Kenny’s identity, staff received emails purportedly from B1 Infinity bosses confirming Kenny was an employee earning a salary of £80,000.

The Northern Echo: Michael Kenny duped two estate agents into giving him the keys to rental flats by using false referencesMichael Kenny duped two estate agents into giving him the keys to rental flats by using false references

However, it is now clear B1 Infinity is not a genuine business.

Despite claims on its website that the company was launched in 2006 and has more than a million customers in the UK, records show the domain name for the site - www.b1infinity.co.uk - was registered by an MJ Kenny in February last year.

Kenny moved in to the St Helens flat around four months ago - but is yet to pay any rent.

When Simply Residential chased him for the money, he claimed he had already paid.

Simply Residential is currently taking legal action to evict Kenny and Merseyside Police have been informed.

The Northern Echo repeatedly attempted to contact Kenny but he failed to respond.