Two businessmen who made thousands from selling bogus British Gas insurance policies from their Purley office have been jailed.

Jay Firmager, 30, and John Annett, 29, were jailed for 15 months and 18 months respectively for the scam which duped British Gas customers into thinking they had bought genuine Homecare insurance products.

Firmager, a magazine publisher of Whytecliffe Road South, Purley, denied being in on the scam and refuted claims large sums of money transferred to him form the business account were his share of the scam.

But a jury rejected his claims and found him guilty of 12 counts of fraud.

Annett of The Ridgeway, Croydon, had already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and fraud.

During Firmager's trial, Croydon Crown Court heard the pair had set up telesales company Feature Me Ltd and innocent staff believed they were selling genuine insurance policies for British Gas.

But Carys Owen, prosecuting told the jurors the pair knew they were "selling a pup," and their office was raided after British Gas investigated a number of complaints.

Firmager was ordered to repay £1,994 defrauded from the victims of his scam, and Annett will appear in court later this year for a confiscation hearing in September.

Annett was also disqualified from being a company director for the next 10 years.