THE North-East boss of a security company conned a 91-year Alzheimer's sufferer out of her life savings by charging more than £30,000 for a cheap alarm and a smoke detector.

Derek William Hepple, 34, who had previously duped a disabled Teesside woman, left the North Yorkshire pensioner penniless.

York Crown Court heard yesterday how Hepple, who owned DNW Protection, charged the pensioner and her son £31,000 for security and smoke alarm systems, worth less than £500.

His bill included a £19,000 charge for doing nothing.

To add insult to injury, some of the equipment did not even work.

Judge Paul Hoffman, jailing Hepple, of Raby Road, Oxclose, Washington, for three-and-a-half years told him: "These were despicable offences against mentally fragile and gullible victims as you well knew.

"For eight months you fastened yourself to them like a leech and systematically bled them of all their savings."

Hepple pleaded guilty to nine offences of theft involving a total of £31,000 after his Gateshead company made a "cold call" following a telephone introduction to the 91-year-old woman and her 58-year-old son.

Stephen Lunt, prosecuting, said the mother suffered from dementia and Alzheimer's.

Her son had serious health problems, as a result of which they were both very vulnerable.

Hepple stole money from them between February and October 1998 as a result of which their entire life savings had been milked and they were now penniless, relying on state benefits.

Although the family home in York already had a perfectly good security alarm, Hepple installed another one which did not work and after ingratiating himself with the son, and telling him to keep their business a secret, he charged £6,000 for a panic alarm. It was worth less than £200.

Mr Lunt said: "He drove the son to the bank to secure a bank draft and afterwards charged a further £2,500 pounds for what the accused called a lifetime warranty.

"He extracted £2,500 for a carbon monoxide detector which cost less than £50 and another £19,000 for doing exactly nothing."

Mr Lunt said the con was exposed after a nursing home, discussing the cost of 24-hour care for the woman, discovered something was wrong with her family finances and that the son had been obtaining loans at the Hepple's behest to pay him.

Hepple was taped making phone calls to the victims' home and police raided his premises in Gateshead and seized files and computer data. However, he refused to answer any questions or give a handwriting sample.

Two years ago, Hepple and another man were fined a total of £1,000 after duping a disabled pensioner out of £1,800.

The OAP, from Marske, in Teesside, shelled out the cash for a security camera worth just £150. Hepple claimed one of his engineers had installed the wrong equipment.

David Callam, defending, said Hepple ran a successful home protection business turning over a £1m-a-year and employing 15 people.

However it had now gone "bust" and Hepple, he added, had only used the money he stole to help pay off a "catastrophic" VAT bill of £75,000.

Mr Callam added: "He recently fell off his motorbike which a psychiatrist thinks was a half attempt at committing suicide.

"It is a tragic story for everyone concerned.