A MAN who managed two firms illegally after running up estimated debts of more than £800,000 with another company has been jailed for 15 months.

Charnjit Randhawa and his wife Jusvir carried on trading despite a 10-year undertaking given to a court four years ago.

But their new firms, Diverse Surface Solutions and No Slip Cheltenham and Gloucester, also collapsed with total debts of £280,000, said Nicholas Cole, prosecuting for the Department of Trade and Industry.

Jusvir Randhawa was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. The couple, who live in Hallow Road, Hallow, near Worcester, were also disqualified from managing a company for the next 12 years.

Judge David McEvoy QC said the husband was the dominant figure in the transactions but did "not know the difference between truth and falsehood".

He was concerned both defendants still protested their innocence and said they would carry on trading. The judge said: "That puts at risk the public and any future creditors."

A jury at Worcester Crown Court convicted the couple in January of managing firms while undischarged bankrupts and when disqualified by legal undertakings made in 2003. The couple, who defended themselves after their barristers pulled out, declined to give evidence.

Mr Cole told how their GB Lucky Bag company collapsed owing £834,000 six years ago. They had falsified sales by £1 million .

Made bankrupt, they then gave an undertaking to the Insolvency Service not to run another firm for 10 years but launched DSS and No Slip - selling cleaning products and a non-slip floor spray - between 2004 and 2005.

They were caught after a Coventry firm was contacted to design a logo and packaging for DSS. A check at Companies House revealed the 38-year-old wife, who billed herself as sales director, was banned from a managerial role.

The 40-year-old husband had four counts of perverting the course of justice on his record and complained that their barristers "left us at the court door". He asked the judge to be lenient.