A conman was caught when he was recognised from a television appearance with daytime chat show queen Trisha Goddard.

Ian Pass went on the Trisha programme in January last year to talk about the scams he claimed to have been involved in.

He was arrested in Horsham weeks later after a newsagent wrongly suspected he was trying to use a dodgy credit card.

A shop assistant at Martins in West Street alerted police after she recognised Pass, 53, from his appearance on the show.

Although he had been using his own card, police found a credit card on him in the name of George Gooding, which he had obtained by stealing the identity of a pensioner he had befriended.

Pass, who was living in Horsham at the time, was yesterday jailed for four years for obtaining services by deception, theft and forgery.

He had denied all three charges during a trial at Hove Crown Court last month.

Recorder Christopher Morris-Coole said Pass had been found guilty by the jury on the clearest of evidence.

During the trial Nicolas Hall, prosecuting, said Pass befriended Mr Gooding after meeting him at a Christian group.

Mr Hall said they had a shared interest in Christianity and Pass visited the vulnerable pensioner at his Horsham flat.

During that time he wrote himself a cheque for £4,000 after helping himself to a blank cheque and forging Mr Gooding's signature.

However, the cheque was not paid after staff at Barclays Bank, Horsham, became suspicious and contacted Mr Gooding.

Pass also used Mr Goodings details to apply for a credit card in the pensioner's name, which he used to pay for a £420 holiday in Rotterdam, Holland.

The court heard that Pass, who has since moved to Salisbury, Wiltshire, had previous convictions for similar offences.

They included being jailed for three-and-a-half years in October 2000 for dishonestly obtaining Marks & Spencer gift vouchers worth £23,000.

Victoria Prescott, defending, said: "He tried to ensure the handling of the cross-examination of Mr Gooding during the trial was carried out quite sensitively.

"He made it quite clear he wanted it to be done very gently.

"He still very much disputes the charges on which the jury found him guilty."

Recorder Morris-Coole, sentencing Pass, told him: "You have maintained the position that there was an absence of dishonesty on your part.

"That was rejected by the jury on the clearest of evidence and is consistent with previous offences for which you have appeared before the courts in the past.

"You are, in effect, a full-time trickster and in this case you were a predator on an elderly gentleman with whom you had built up a friendship based on Christian principle and thinking and that was the mutual bond between you."