THE detectives who put a serial conman behind bars have been praised by a judge for their year-long investigation to unravel his web of lies and financial frauds.

Judge Howard Crowson said the Durham Police officers had dug so deeply into the dealings of Jonathan Price that the callous crook had no option but to plead guilty.

The Northern Echo reported last week how the 41-year-old was jailed for seven years for fleecing tens of thousands of pounds out of three lovers and their families.

He pretended to be a multi-millionaire with terminal cancer, a former SAS hero with a worldwide property portfolio when he targeted the women on a dating website.

The truth was that the online love-rat was a penniless Walter Mitty character who had spent his entire adult life ripping off people and serving jail terms for theft and fraud.

He was arrested last May when the parents of one of his victims, who he lived with on the outskirts of Darlington, became suspicious about his stories of wealth.

Price had taken more than £75,000 from the woman and her family - with a promise he would pay it back when his temporary cash-flow problems were sorted out.

As with all of his victims, the heartless liar told them he had millions in offshore accounts and needed the money for life-prolonging cancer treatment.

After his arrest, two dogged detectives began the painstaking job of going back over Price's life since his release from his latest prison sentence for fraud in 2010.

They discovered he had used the "sugardaddies" website to groom the wealthy yet vulnerable women before taking more than £100,000 from three of them.

He had been in contact with a host of others who he was also probably planning to fleece until he was caught, Teesside Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

Judge Crowson said the work of Detective Constables Vikki Cooper and Ian Whittaker forced Price into admitting 15 charges of fraud and one of theft.

He said: "Without enormous work and particular attention to detail, these cases seldom reach a position where the defendant will plead guilty, and it is to their great credit that they were able to prove so much by following leads."

Afterwards, Det Con Cooper said: "This case has involved a protracted investigation and now it has concluded I hope Jonathan Price's victims are able to gain closure and move on with their lives in the knowledge he has received a prison sentence befitting his crimes."