AN elderly man who was pressured into buying an expensive chair by a crooked mobility-aid firm has been awarded thousands of pounds in compensation.

Ernest Watson, 82, of Ashbourne, argued with a salesman from REO Marketing for more than three hours before buying the mobility chair for more than £2,000.

In November last year, Geoffrey Moore, the company's former sales manager, was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to nine charges of using unfair and aggressive sales tactics.

Former director Rodney Stone received a three-year prison sentence after admitting 15 charges.

Now a judge at Derby Crown Court has ruled on how much they must pay back to the State from the proceeds of their crimes.

Recorder Mark Hall QC said Stone must pay £28,000, through the sale of his £24,000 Mercedes car and two personalised number plates.

Moore must fork out £5,400, by selling a £4,400 Kawasaki motorbike and a car worth £1,000.

He also decided that elderly victims of the firm who provided written evidence during the court case would receive a total of £8,659, with the cost shared equally between Stone and Moore.

It is understood that Mr Watson will get £2,850.

He said Derbyshire County Council's trading standards team had initially told him he may not recover any of his money.

Mr Watson said: "They told me they couldn't find any of the money.

"I felt the company should be put under pressure to give me back at least a percentage of what I spent."

He said the money was a pleasant surprise but that Stone and Marsh should have been made to pay more.

He said: "What price do you put on the aggravation that comes with someone throwing questions at you for hours?

"But I'll be able to spend some of it on my nephews and nieces and hopefully get myself a small electric wheelchair."

The judge declared that Stone, 64, of Bamford Avenue, North Wingfield, and Moore, 48, of Prospect Road, Pilsley, had earned a total of £80,000 each through their crimes.

But the amounts they must pay back are based on their available assets. The judge said Stone and Moore must pay by June 30 or face another 18 months and six months in prison respectively.

Salesmen working for REO were given a conman's "bible" that taught them to lie and play on people's emotions to get sales. It had been written by Moore.

The book, called The Door, told them to sell stair lifts by asking victims how long it would take for someone to find them if they had a fall and were left "in a big pile at the bottom of the stairs".

A county council spokesman said seven REO victims who provided written evidence would get compensation. The other six victims will get differing amounts.

Councillor Kevin Parkinson, the county council's cabinet member for regeneration, said the REO case was one of the largest ever dealt with by the authority's trading standards team.

He said: "We are delighted that the proceeds of crime hearing now means they will have to pay back some of their ill-gotten gains."

Paul Niblock, who investigated the case, previously said REO made about 1,000 sales across the country – including 90 in Derbyshire – in which the customers were "misled or defrauded".