A taxi tout ran a scam picking up Asian students from an airport and charging them hundreds of pounds for journeys they had already paid for.

Lounes Khalfi charged a Chinese teenager almost £1,000 and a Japanese student almost £1,500 for trips from Heathrow to Brighton.

A jury at Isleworth Crown Court in west London yesterday convicted him on two charges of deception.

The court heard 17-year-old Man Jie Wang flew from Shanghai last summer for a course at the Geos school, Portland Road, Hove, and was fleeced of £970 by Khalfi, 51, and his associates.

The normal cost for the trip is about £90.

She was driven to Brighton, where she was left outside the library and had to get a genuine taxi to her accommodation.

Wakako Itagaki, 24, who flew in from Japan, was charged £1,450 for a trip to the Regent School in Queens Road, Brighton. She demanded to be returned to the airport and then took a bus.

Khalfi, of Pedley Road, Dagenham, east London, denied overcharging the students in June last year but admitted being a taxi tout at Heathrow.

He said he took them to drivers who paid him £25 commission and he knew nothing of what the drivers charged them later.

He was remanded in custody for pre-sentence reports and warned to expect a custodial sentence.

Khalfi will return to the court for sentencing in October.