A FIRM which shares roots with a discredited mortgage business has moved to distance itself from its sister company.

Hartley James, which is based at Northallerton, North Yorkshire, and describes itself as an administration company making appointments for mortgage brokers, shared registered offices and shareholders with Century Mortgages.

On Monday, Century was formally wound up on the orders of the High Court.

A judge said the mortgage broker, which sold "accelerator" home loan packages promising to cut householder's repayments, misled its customers and its inadequately-trained 4,000 self-employed agents.

Since a Department of Trade and Industry team swooped on Century's offices and shut down the firm last year, the attention of local authorities and some of the agents left out of pocket has shifted to Hartley James, based in Northallerton's Garthway Arcade, which had Century chairman Richard Hodgson, a convicted fraudster, as a shareholder.

When Hartley James was set up in July 1997, its company secretary was Mr Hodgson's daughter, Melissa, who was also a director of Century during 1995, its first year of existence.

She resigned her position on October 12, four days after Century was closed.

A sister company, registered with Companies House as Hartley James Group, shares directors with the other firms, and according to latest records retains Century managing director Mark Hodgson as its commercial director.

Last night, North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire County Council's trading standards department confirmed they were monitoring Hartley James.

But Brian Campbell, who became managing director of Hartley James last Friday, said the Hodgsons had nothing to do with his firm.

"As far as I am aware, the mortgage industry is the last place Mark wants to be nowadays," he said.

"Richard has no involvement either."

Mr Campbell said he was a former Century agent who had lost "a lot" of share money.

But although conceding buying the company for a nominal sum was not the "most prudent thing to do", given its background, he said Hartley James operated as a totally separate business.

When asked of any links between the two Hartley James firms, Mr Campbell said: "I'm not aware of it."

The Office of Fair Trading, which grants consumer credit licences necessary for mortgage broking, extracted a written undertaking from Hartley James Ltd that it would not employ Century directors